Black on Black Crime
I wrote this poem after seeing another story about a black man being shot by police. While the outrage was justified I wondered why we don't see the same level of outrage when one young black man kills another.
While police shootings and brutality are not the isolated incidents many try to make them out to be there is no comparison when it comes to the fact that black on black crime takes far more young black lives.
Until we ourselves show that we care about this issue there will be no way to stop it.
BLACK ON BLACK
We march when the cops beat us
We cry when our young men are attacked
But where is the outrage
When the attacker is black
Where are the "Civil Rights Leaders"
Where is the black press
When we are the cause
of a sad and tragic death
Where are the bloggers
When it is us that sow the pain
Where are they at
When some us don’t act sane
Maybe the truth is
We just don’t care
Maybe it’s okay for us to kill each other
But a white cop better not dare
George Cook 2009
From the eBook Let's Talk Honestly: One Black Man's Thoughts
www.letstalkhonestly.com
While police shootings and brutality are not the isolated incidents many try to make them out to be there is no comparison when it comes to the fact that black on black crime takes far more young black lives.
Until we ourselves show that we care about this issue there will be no way to stop it.
BLACK ON BLACK
We march when the cops beat us
We cry when our young men are attacked
But where is the outrage
When the attacker is black
Where are the "Civil Rights Leaders"
Where is the black press
When we are the cause
of a sad and tragic death
Where are the bloggers
When it is us that sow the pain
Where are they at
When some us don’t act sane
Maybe the truth is
We just don’t care
Maybe it’s okay for us to kill each other
But a white cop better not dare
George Cook 2009
From the eBook Let's Talk Honestly: One Black Man's Thoughts
www.letstalkhonestly.com
True that. I recall an incident that occurred in Houston several years ago, where a Chinese person committed a crime. It wasn't 24 hours later that business men and women were on television demanding that this guy turn himself in. They felt that he embarrassed their community.
I bring that up b/c we used to have a similar shame when it was one of us doing bad things -- somewhere along the way it became accepted as the norm. And Black on Black crime is just one of the accepted norms. I feel outraged when ANY Black commits a crime, dresses like a moron, speaks like a fool, etc. We should all get back to demanding that youth show respect for "our" community.
Bad things happen when good people stay quiet.