Can you picture me dancing doing The Mambo; better yet The Gangsta Walk down this pathway? What reason do I have to be this happy? Clearly concerned adults would be cutting me with their eyes. Staring me down and watching my every move around our kids. If no knows me and I acted in such a way I probably would not make it out of this environment without incident.
I look down on the ground there is no trash in site. A City Year Corps member is here and although he looks to be of Arabic descent he is well acquainted with the African American kids that make up the majority of this community. This is another thought that comes to my mind he is dressed in his uniform and spend a whole school year or two devoted to empowering the youth in this community, working with community leaders and committing himself to beautification projects within the community he serves. The ideas and hope he leaves behind will transform the community for decades to come. I can vouch for this because I was once in his shoes and I now see the efforts of recycling a reality after mentioning it to people in power when I served in the same uniform.
Now back to these bad ass kids running around this playground. They do not need their older brothers and sisters as guidance because it creates a cycle of negligence. Their world is built with negativity, distrust and poor decisions, hurt and pain. This is the place where it is shielded and only observed towards their interaction with each other and authority. I would call it opposite defiance in desperate need of behavior modification. This is a place where if you grow up in a single family home the city/state government will cater to your needs. They will give your teenager a summer job if your parents are below the income threshold level they dictate. This is a place where if your family is living below poverty the women(or men) and kids can reason food stamps and welfare assistance if they go after the absent parent (who is not really absent) for child support. Most of the time the separated parents no longer get along so it becomes an issue there and they need a third party to bully on the other parent with and help extort them for money. Remember those young men I said that were shooting dice on the basketball court? They have a stronger bond with each other than most young men have with their father. In fact, only one or two of them actually know and love their father. I bet my last dollar…
So what makes me safe here? Nothing. I am the target of their anger and frustration. I am the answer to their questions left unanswered. I am the challenge to their emotion. I am an outlier in their design. I am a replica of their corruption. I know what they know and do not know. I am the reform in their activities and ways. I am the outsider allowed inside. I am what they see when they look inside their selves. I tell them to do right, help their elders, believe in god and they hate me for it. I am a black man.
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From @blockgators