Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents demographic information for some (word only) examples of children's "Ungawa" recreational rhymes. These rhymes usually include the line "Ungawa, Black Power" (or some other racial or ethnic referent instead of "Black").
WARNING - Some of these examples include profanity or derogatory referent that is commonly given as "the n word". Because pancocojams is a family friendly website, those words are given in this post in amended spelling that is indicated by an asterisk.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and historical purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those whose example of this rhyme is quoted in this pancocojams post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/06/childrens-examples-of-ah-beep-beep.html for the 2023 pancocojams post entitled "Children's Examples Of "Ah Beep Beep Ungawa Black Power" And Similar Rhymes, Chants, & Cheers." That post includes some of the examples of that rhyme that are featured in this 2024 post and also includes some information about the word "ungawa". Additional information and comments about other lines in some of these rhymes (such as "if you don't like my apples, don't shake my trees" are also found in that post or in my comments about that post.
****
EXAMPLES OF THESE RHYMES WITH DEMOGRAPHICS
These examples are given under the state in the United States that is documented in that particular version.
When there's more than one example of this rhyme from a particular geographic location, I assigned numbers for those examples and presented them in chronological order based on their publishing date (the decade that they were published online or offline and not the decade that the contributor remembers chanting that example of hearing it chanted.)
Other examples of this rhyme without demographics are found on the websites for those links and elsewhere online.
For the folkloric record, please add to this compilation by sharing examples of this rhyme that you know or have come across online or offline with demographic information. Thanks!
CALIFORNIA
"OMG, found your site by a search for a chant we did at high school games: the "ungawa" one. It made me laugh, because I realize how much more our parents could have been shocked than they were at the first winning football game our school had in a decade.
When I was in high school, our football team had not won for years--against anybody. When I was a junior, it looked pretty god for us to win that season's first game of the season.
BGHS at that time was about half-half hispanic and poor whites. "Racial diversity" was a struggling concept in many places, even in California, back then. It was really having a struggle in Bell Gardens. The Watts Riots was only a few years behind us and was still only about a 9-mile drive from BG. I remember seeing the smoke at night and the glow of the flames on the horizon.
I think our parents, especially, needed a sensitivity training and about two decades to make them more acceptable to racial diversity.
The majority of the folks who attended the football games were white.
An unfortunate cosmic connection occurred when our cheerleading squad attended a cheerleading camp over the summer, and returned to preview their new chants at the football game we were actually, finally, going to win.
To understand how big this game was, the LATimes had a reporter there for a few days before the game, and published, as their dominant story, The Game, with background about BGHS and the community.
On the night of the game, the stands were packed.
Our (white) cheerleaders came out and, the first chant they did was:
"ungawa, ungawa, yeah we got the powah!" but we didn't get into the full verses, but just chanted that over and over. The students in the stands ROCKED that chant! We stood up and SCREAMED it!
They did the "Ah-beep-beep!" chant after that, and the students enthusiastically joined in.
Well, to say that our parents pitched a bloody fit to the principle the next Monday, about sitting in the stands, being surrounded by their children screaming "UNGWA! UNGAWA! YEAH WE GOT THE POWAH!," is an understatement. It represented every one of their fears about the safety of ourselves, them, the country, and what the future held for all of us.
I'm just glad the cheerleaders didn't bring back the full version of Ungawa-Ugawa."
-
****
NEW YORK
1.
"I'll be I'll be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gah-wah, un-gah-wah (baby)
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it,
I really represent it.
Take a cool, cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool, cool Black to knock me down.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black.
Don't miss with me."
-John Langstaff and Carol Langstaff, editors: Shimmy Shimmy Coke -Ca-Pop!: A Collection Of City Children's Street Games And Rhymes (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1973, p. 57)
-snip-
My assumption is that the rhyme examples in this book are from New York state.
-snip-
"Take a cool, cool Black" means "a cool Black (person).
My guess is that the term "Castle Square Black" refers to a Black person who lives in a particular neighborhood or a particular housing development (i.e. low income, usually government subsidized housing units that are informally called "projects") named "Castle Square".
**
2.
"Ah beep beep, walking down the street
10 times a week
Ungawa, black power, Puerto Rican power
I said it, I meant it and now I represent it"
-Yasmin Hernandez, East Harlem, New York (private email to Azizi for cocojams.com, 2004)
-snip-
"cocojams.com" is the name of my no-longer active cultural website.
**
3.
"Well, the way we used to sing it in the '70s in Queens, NY
goes:
Ahh, beep beep, walkin down the street, 10 times a week.
Ungawa,ungawa, black power, black power. I said it, I meant
it, I really represent it.
I'm a cool cool ni—er* from a cool cool town, it takes 5
white ni—ers* to knock me down."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this example
**
4.
"In Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, NY at PS 33 in 5th
grade in the early 70 ties - where the blacks hated the Puerto Ricans and every
one hated the whites ...
Ah beep beep
ah beep beep
10 times a week
10 times a week
Ungawa Black Power
Destroy white Boy
I said it, I meant it
I even represent it
I'm soul brother number 9
sock it to me one more time
(Than was so many years ago)
-GUEST, 06 Feb 10, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600&messages=26 "RE: Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)"
**
5.
Ahh, Beep Beep!
Walking down the street
Ten times a week
Ungawa!
Black Power!
Destroy!
White Boy!
I said it, I meant it
I'm here to represent it
I'm cool, I'm calm
I'm Soul Sister Number Nine
Sock it to me one more time!
Uh-Uh! Good God!
Now someone here mixed this up with another soul
sister/brother rhyme that goes as follows:
I'm a bad soul sister from a bad soul town
It takes 48 whites just to knock me down
Don't you pick no apples from my apple tree!
I'm a bad soul sister, don't you mess with me!
We had so many rhymes like this. Some were very graphic!"
-
**
6.
"Being raised in Brooklyn, in the 60's and 70's, we sang that
street song(Cadence) like this..., *Forgive the profanity, we were kids
following others...
Ahhh beep-beep, walking down the street. Ten times a week. Ungawa, Black Power, destroy White boy.
I said it, I meant it, I'm here to represent it. I'm a
cool-cool 'nicca' from a cool-cool Town. It takes a cool-cool 'nicca' to knock
me down. You don't like my apples, don't shake my tree but listen mofo, don't
mess with me... I'm cool, I'm calm, I'm soul sister #9, sock it to me, one mo'
time. Soul sister #10, I'll say it to you, one mo' 'gin...
There were even more lyrics, we'd add on, depending on who
was singing along."
-snip-
This is the way this comment is written in that discussion thread.
-GUEST, 22 Dec 20, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600&messages=26 "RE: Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)"
****
PENNSYLVANIA
"Ah Beep Beep
Walkin down the street
Ugawa. Ugawa
That means Black power.
White boy.
Destroy.
I said it. I meant it
And I'm here to represent it.
Soul sister number 9
Sock it to me one more time.
Uh hun! Uh Hun!"
-Tracey S.,(African American female); Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; childhood remembrance,1968); collected by Azizi Powell, 2000
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Here are two excerpts about the word "Ungawa" from my 2023 post
ReplyDeleteentitled "Children's Examples Of "Ah Beep Beep Ungawa Black Power" And Similar Rhymes, Chants, & Cheers. https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/06/childrens-examples-of-ah-beep-beep.html :
"The first time that the word "ungawa" was documented as being used by African Americans is in Dizzy Gillespie's 1959 Jazz composition "Ungawa". "Ungawa" is chanted near the beginning and at the end of that Jazz composition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNZ_oAk6pfA
**
Black activist Stokely Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Toure) is documented as the first person who used the word "ungawa" iin Black protest chants/rallies (1966). Here's a comment from a discussion about that chant:
"Stokely Carmichael used to end his speeches at colleges by leading the audience (white, black, Asian etc.) in chanting "Beep, beep, bang, bang, umgawa, black power!" I wonder if he took it from a jump-rope rhyme."
-Cool Beans, 17 Dec 09, "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)" tps://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600