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A poem I wrote reflecting on the state of race relations in the world toda. |
Young thugs, ~1~ The Crips and the Bloods, ~2~ Believe they all are on drugs, ~3~ Because they are different from us. ~4~ They’re pickin’ up guns. ~5~ Through the streets they run, ~6~ Lives coming undone, ~7~ If we knew the truth we’d be stunned. ~8~ Taking lives, ~9~ Like they won’t die. ~10~ Learning to despise, ~11~ Not to compromise. ~12~ They’ve been advised, ~13~ Anyone not like them will tell lies. ~14~ Think their bulletproof. ~15~ Acting so aloof, ~16~ Believing they’re shatterproof, ~17~ The state has the burden of proof. ~18~ Killin’ each other, ~19~ One after another. ~20~ Standing out on the street corner, ~21~ Trying to find the childhood of former, ~22~ Feeling responsibility not to be an underperformer. ~23~ It needs to stop, ~24~ Quit talkin’ shit like words are a prop, ~25~ Acting like you can drop, ~26~ Judgment on people while revering the cops. ~27~ ‘Cause what you say can show respect, ~28~ Or it can have the opposite effect. ~29~ Leaving too many victims with lives wrecked, ~30~ Look at young brotha’s locked up, whose lives we neglect. ~31~ Then throw them out in the world on their own, ~32~ While we’re quick to cast the first stone, ~33~ Thugs need love too, they don’t want to be alone, ~34~ But you’re too damn afraid of the unknown. ~35~ Can’t meet their basic needs, ~36~ Too busy focusing on their misdeeds. ~37~ Ignore the fact that we impede, ~38~ Pretend their not fatigued, ~39~ of running from what precedes, ~40~ The failure they deem their creeds Man, they just want to succeed, ~41~ Must they stay down on their knees Trying to appease, ~42~ Never feeling at ease. ~43~ Around people who act like they have a disease. ~44~ It is with their lives that we are playing, ~45~ While they sit and wait for the next slaying, ~46~ And you have the balls to sit back and keep saying, ~47~ It is a price they must keep paying. ~48~ Because their image is different than the fakeness you are displaying. ~49~ Like we are so fuckin’ perfect. ~50~ While the facts we deflect, ~51~ Keep believing they have no regrets. ~52~ Think of the attitudes that we project, ~53~ That show how much we neglect, ~54~ Feelings that we all recollect. ~55~ Is it any wonder they don’t care, ~56~ Pretend to be aware. ~57~ Act like it’s their affair, ~58~ That they live in a nightmare. ~59~ Warn others to beware, ~60~ While we sit back and compare, ~61~ Think there’s nothing to repair. ~62~ Black lives matter, ~63~ But they think they won’t shatter. ~64~ Or one day be splattered, ~65~ When the bullets start to scatter. ~66~ The movement rocks, ~67~ Yet people are shocked Think the civil rights movement stopped Poverty and judgment that we concoct. ~68~ Agree we should keep the doors locked, ~69~ Cause if we look in the mirror we’d see how low humanity has dropped. ~70~ Yeah racism still exists, ~71~ Even when you deny that shit. ~72~ Think they live in the abyss, ~73~ We’re not the reason they resist… Half hearted, bullshit attempts to assist. ~74~ Ask why? ~75~ Won’t get a reply, ~76~ We’ve all come to rely On what we see in our mind’s eye. ~77~ We think we can command, ~78~ Something we don’t understand. ~79~ Think we’ve lived first hand, ~80~ The horrors they withstand. ~81~ And wonder why they live or die with a gun in their hand, ~82~ Survival depends on fitting in, ~83~ Even if it means committing a sin. ~84~ Much to our chagrin, ~85~ We’ve never experienced the same tailspin. ~86~ From the safety of our homes we can’t even begin, ~87~ To understand where they have been. ~88~ No one is perfect, though all that aside, ~89~ It doesn’t give us the right to commit genocide. ~90~ We don’t have to hide, ~91~ The tears that we cry Or live alongside, ~92~ Enemies with whom we collide. ~93~ Cops shoot first ask questions later, ~94~ And young thugs get blamed like they’re the haters Think we can deal with this later, ~95~ Act like we’re spectators, ~96~ When really we’re perpetrators. ~97~ Social media has provided the forum, ~98~ For people to act like they’ve been taught no decorum. ~99~ If there were choices they’d explore them. ~100~ Kindness could restore him. ~101~ Instead we act like we abhor the mayhem, ~102~ Like we didn’t contribute to it when we sat and condemned. ~103~ Say things they’d never say to a person’s face, ~104~ What the hell have we done to the human race? ~105~ Act like they’re a disgrace, ~106~ Like lives aren’t being erased. ~107~ And we sit back and embrace, ~108~ Father’s and mother’s they’ve had to replace. ~109~ People think they can be any way they want. ~110~ What are our kids learning, I’m so distraught. ~111~ Parent’s can’t afford to continue to have this blind spot. ~112~ Color doesn’t make one an afterthought, ~113~ This hatred erases all the love that you taught. ~114~ Words that are heard, ~115~ Show ignorance, it’s so absurd. ~116~ Lines have been blurred, ~117~ While we hear only what we wanted to be heard. ~118~ Making up lies Just to justify, ~119~ To continue to swear we tried, ~120~ If you aren’t the solution you’re the problem, that can’t be denied. ~121~ People so quick to speak, ~122~ To give their critique, ~123~ Over something so unique, ~124~ Continuing their word streak, ~125~ Not realizing it shows they are weak Defamatory, explanatory, inflammatory, ~126~ Prohibitory, derogatory, retaliatory, ~127~ Looking for society to be reformatory. ~128~ Judging another’s territory, ~129~ When they just don’t know the story. ~130~ People say they aren’t to blame, ~131~ Feel no shame, ~132~ While others are out to explain, ~133~ Words they proclaim, ~134~ that fans the flames. ~135~ Of hatred long held, ~136~ Hiding faces, makes it easier to be compelled, ~137~ To hate without reason, ~138~ teaching the young generation To divide this nation Marting Luther King, yeah he had a dream, ~139~ Violated his words to the extreme. ~140~ Everyone wants to be supreme’ People, hatin’ those who see mainstream, ~141~ All they see is a color scheme. ~142~ |