I was so pissed last night about so many things, I figured I’d give somebody a piece of my mind. I can’t be quiet anymore, cause these headaches are trying to come back. It’s those kids. All the kids. I can hear somebody right now, sitting reading the paper, saying, “It’s a shame before God the way these kids act, all disrespectful and stuff. Their parents need to be locked up!” Other stuff like that too. But what are you doing about the social issues in your community? How are you helping? What about right in your own blood line? Your house?
People kill me, judging and watching from a distance while the world goes all to hell, talking about what Dr. King would say, or what Brother Malcolm would do. YOU are their Dr. King. YOU are their Malcolm. I may be their Toni Morrison or Zora Neal Hurston. But who’s telling them to read anything of substance? Who’s telling them to focus on things that matter? Do they even notice the world is going to hell? Somebody better tell em, tap em on the shoulder or snatch em up or something!
I got anarchy, dissension, and a coup brewing right under my own nose, and I gotta fight it by myself cause nobody else wants to step on somebody’s toes. Well, he ain’t even put his toes in the ring, so let’s have it. He on joke time. I’m in the trenches, alone. But I ain’t laying down. Wrote a poem about it. It’s kinda raw in spots, but that’s what I do when nobody’s hearing me. This is bigger than you or me:
A Call to Action
Don’t talk about no history or no slavery if you aint doing $#!t in your own family or community.
Your black azz livin in the past, talkin about marches, ravin about changes;
ancestors turnin in their graves ‘n $#!t cause you aint doin nothing but reminiscing,
like you can’t see he gettin’ high, she twerkin. She poppin out babies for a check cause workin
don’t pay that much. An EBT card and some free lunch sounds like a better deal for her.
$#!t out here is real for her.
Why you aint put something good in her ear, tell her to run far away from here,
and do what her parents never had the courage to? You could say, “Little girl, you
have within you the power to start a new trend, do what your talents tell you;
don’t end up like your girlfriends–nowhere, nothin.”
Why you aint say somethin on a regular,
hip her to that secular school $#!t, internships, college education or trade/labor certification
so she can stand up alone, walk on her own two feet, and compete for real employment
in the field of her choosing, instead of acting like it’s an annoyance
to help other people with their kids cause you aint got none?
Each one of us has information to be shared, so these young ones can be spared
some of that big bad the world will hand them. Dumb $#!t that will land them in jail.
Where are the strong black males when all these young black males
are walkin around with their tails exposed? Lord knows they can’t approve of this mess!
So why are they quiet? Is it up to the rest of us to keep them in line?
Times sure have changed. We were raised to respect our elders–all of them.
Mother, father, grandma, grandpa, uncles, aunts, and all their friends.
Cause they were grown. Even if you were out on your own,
you gave seniors their proper honor and you weren’t gonna
overstep because a number of folks would interject
their opinions about how disrespectful you were, and sooner or later,
you’d apologize … with all eyes on you. That’s the village for you.
It’s gone now. I can’t understand how
a single mother can’t find a single, solitary brother to talk some sense into her son.
Not one friend or relative gives a rat’s azz that he’s givin her sass and flexin,
smokin or sexin, and he’s twelve.
All hell’s breakin loose in her house, he aint old enough to get put out,
but when she punches him in the mouth, the law gets mad.
The school called, and he’s tellin his dad like she’s the worst thing goin.
How $#!t like that gon fly with all these people knowing why–cause he was f—ing up?!
Dad fakin like he been there; him and his wife up in there at the school, playing parents.
Apparently they let anybody in when your kid won’t do right.
Might make sense if the fake parents were on the up-and-up.
But they don’t give a f–k about the kid’s issues or how to solve them,
cause they’re part of the problem. These fools tellin him,
“if people don’t respect you, don’t respect them–
teachers, students, and other adults included.” He thinks they’re the coolest.
But he’s clueless all they want is the child support dropped.
If he come live with them, it gets stopped and they got more money to go on trips and $#!t.
In return, he gets to do what he wants.
Mama begged for help, but not once did anybody come check this dude.
Everybody dancing around like it would be rude to make suggestion to his father,
or even bother to look him in the eye and say, “Stop it.
I see where you’re headed, and you don’t want this.”
I miss the good ol days times like this.
Wasn’t nothin for a man to take off his belt and give a kid a grown-ass man whippin.
I aint sayin it’s that simple, but what if it is? Kids need that village.
We do a disservice by acting like it’s none of our business
while they disturb everyone’s peace.
What would the ancestors say about you turnin the other way,
when somebody’s future history is being made today?
If you’re still here, you clearly have more work to do.
You are not too busy, or too old, or too far. Make a difference where you are.
Each one of us has information to be shared, so the young people can be spared
some of the big bad the world will eventually hand them.
We can’t just abandon them.
From the Mind of: Tonya D. Floyd
The Signature Movement is upon us!
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