The government shut down, being among the most trying to so many, was in many ways unnecessary. It, hopefully, is not a preview of what is to come from our leaders. Then, there was the unnecessary loss of innocent lives. I pray we will take time to right our wrongs, and move in a positive direction for ourselves, our children and their children's children. We can't keep going on this way. It wasn't what men like Martin Luther King and Mandela died for. It, most assuredly is not what our President is working hard to obtain. If he would be allowed to do his job, people would find out otherwise. Most important, it certainly is not what God expects from us. We can do better. We can do better.
Here is to a better 2014. Happy New Year to all.
I get tired of reading stories like this in L.A.
Talaib Pecante died at Children's Hospital Los Angeles shortly before 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.
It doesn't matter where you live, no where is safe. Over there becomes over here where violence is concerned. It affects us all where we live.
This is a requiem to those who died young
Those who have fallen victim
To a bullet from some banger's gun
Before their life has begun
A song of mourning I sing
To quench death’s angry sting
This is a final goodbye
On behalf of all those left to cry
Some loving Mother’s daughter or son
Never again to see another sun
Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time
Another victim to black on black crime
Their life taken by one of the body snatchers in the hood
We should hate them for the crazy things they do-we should
I find myself feeling sorry for them instead,
Because it’s only a matter of time before they too are dead
You see there is no sinful act for which we will not pay.
It’s only a matter of time before it’s their day
And their name is added to the list of those who have
succumbed
To a bullet from some banger’s gun.
It’s a vicious cycle that only repeats
Death only cheats,
Cheats those who have so much to give
Of a chance to live.
It’s sad when undertakers find themselves put to the
test
From the burdens that come with laying children to rest.
I, myself, am just tired of hearing about black on black
crime
And young men and women doing time.
My heartaches
Every time I think of what is at stake
I can’t begin to understand why
So many tears have to be cried
Nothing can justify
What our children are doing to one another
Surely, our forefathers did not die for us to experience this
Something is definitely amiss.
We have got to uncover a solution soon
And end this cycle of doom
We have got to launch an attack
It’s time to snatch our children back
From the hands of the enemy
And set them free
From the dungeons of despair
Father’s and mother’s you have to be there
To keep your children from going astray
If you fail in this responsibility
Your child may be the next casualty.
Some gang is waiting to welcome them in
To their den of sin
We must find a solution
And bring an end to these senseless executions
How much longer must young bodies line the walls of
our mortuaries,
And fill the pages of the orbituaries.
I wish there was some way to make our children see
That death doesn’t have to become their only reality
Too many children are being traumatized
And terrorized
By what their young eyes have seen
At night they cry out and scream
As they subconsciously think about the stories they hear
They live each day in fear
We have a problem that desperately needs to be solved
Or the cycle of death will continue to revolve
From generation
To generation
Until all that is left
Is an ever-prevailing stench of death
copyright P. Newman-Harris
copyright P. Newman-Harris