Sunday, February 12, 2012

Black America

America is not the melting pot they paint in the history books
But, I don't live in America, I live in Black America
I live where they don't tell you the real truth in schools
Where we are supposed to look up to Columbus & George Washington but not Nelson Mandela or Angela Davis
Where the most important lessons are learned on the streets & common sense always takes a back seat
In Black America I'm white on the inside because I don't speak ebonics
I spend too much time reading and not enough time gangbanging
In Black America, black men account for almost 35% of the prison population but only 4% of the US population
Where everyone wants to free Boosie but no one is shouting Free Troy
We care more about bitches & hos than stocks & bonds.
In Black America we are our own enemies
And if you're light skinned the world is your oyster
But if not then you're ugly and stereotyped
Indian Remy Hair & relaxers are beautiful but the natural curls & fros are unkempt.
Where the only time we step in a voting booth is when the candidate is Black
I live where a black man marries a white woman twice as often as a black woman
Where little black girls are ashamed to be themselves because the media has deemed her "Too Dark"
Where I don't fit in because my shirt isn't 3 times my size and my pants don't hang off my ass
Where we only make up almost 14% of the US population but make up 50% of the HIV population
Where Black on Black crime is accounting for a majority of Murder victims in the US.
72% of single & unwed mothers are Black & over 40% of black teenagers will drop out of high school.
No child left behind is a lie in Black America.
We've been taught that the barrel of a gun speaks louder than words.
I'm seen as a statistic rather than a human being.
Every time a black person picks up a crack pipe or cocks a gun to pop shots into someone who disrespected him or gets jumped into a gang we hold ourselves back.
I've been programmed to be scared of the police, even if I've done nothing wrong because the police beat down men who are already handcuffed and say they were resisting.
The innocent are being killed as the guilty watch with relief.
Almost 25% of Blacks are living in poverty. We think if it didn't happen in our neighborhood or to those closest to us then it doesn't affect us.
We have a strict "snitches get stitches" policy
In Black America it's way better to be seen and not heard.
It's where we know all the Basketball Wives names but are blind to Madame CJ Walker & Shirley Chisolm.
We run around saying "my president is black" but we don't know who the any members of his cabinet are.
I thought we had evolved from the days of Black & White.
But no matter how far I've come I'm still just a poor, black kid from a bad neighborhood.
I thought I was supposed to be judged based on character.
I thought Black America would be a great place to live by now.
I didn't know Black America would be the charred bottom of the Melting Pot that is supposed to be America.
But, I live in Black America in hopes that we can grow past the ignorance & the stereotypes.
I can't turn my back on the America that raised me.
So I will always use my Freedom of Speech wisely
Because one day my kids will live in Black America
And hopefully the statistics will have lowered
& the masses will open their eyes and see what's really going on.
I would say White America is just as hard to live in but, hey, I wouldn't know.
And numbers don't lie.

Lost

Where am I going?
I forgot life comes with no compass
Just when I think I've found my way
The rough winds of tribulations blow me astray
I try my best to keep due north on the path to happiness
But the troubling rain makes me lose the star
The sun shines for but few moments
I try to hold onto the sunlight as long as I can
But, the harsh rain always comes back
When will I be able to bask in the sunlight
Just long enough to know that I'm going the right way
Because then rain or shine I'll always know
Always know where I'm going
Never lost again

Love & Happiness

Love
It's a lie & yet the truest thing I've ever known.
It brings you up just to beat you down.
Love is what the poets write about & the singers sing about.
It's what makes the artists kill themselves & the broken live again.
Love is what makes you wake up in the morning but what makes you want to sleep for days without it.
Love is what makes you want to put up walls just so someone will break them down.
Love makes everything clearer but makes everything harder to see through the haze.
Love makes you rush into things that you probably wouldn't have pursued otherwise.
So, love makes you do the things you'd be too scared to do.
Love knows that what you need & what you want sometimes coincide.
Love can make you feel pathetic and dependent but make you feel like you're not really alone.
Like, you can fly. Like you're a hero to someone, somewhere.
Like, you can do anything.
Love is a drug and I'm scared to become an addict.
Because then what would I do without it?

Happiness
it's what had eluded me for years. It's a baby's smile.
It's the dream of mankind.
It's the vibrant pastel colors on the canvas.
It's what I've found in myself, after years of searching.
Happiness makes me want to cling to it for dear life.
Happiness makes me feel like a kid again.
But makes me feel like an old man who's lived a happy life on his deathbed with no regrets.
Happiness, happiness, it rolls off my tongue like a word I just learned and must commit to memory.
Happiness is like a friend I just met & can't get enough of.
Love & happiness are contradictions of epic proportions.

Mary Jane

This was supposed to be a rap but, I just left it as this so...

You got them pretty green eyes
& them pretty green thighs
I get that pretty green high
& touch the pretty green sky
All that glitters aint gold
All that's bought can't be sold
This like is getting pretty cold
So get another blunt rolled
So I can leave this world below
& when I'm comin you can go
You might be mad but I say so
& now more money I will blow
On that girl that keeps me sane
& is always on my brain
My money's goin down the drain
All because of mary jane