Christian Pearson, 13
Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School
The New Jim Crow
Hey, whaddaya know?
It’s our friend Jim Crow.
And nowadays he’s
Running America’s show.
Took Mamie Till’s son
And Michael Brown in Ferguson
Get us running from the cops
And cleaning blood with mops.
Believing old pains and forgotten sorrow,
African Americans, meet the New Jim Crow.
Storm Lee, 19
Community College of Baltimore County
Gather round, we’re here to talk about Ferguson
Ferguson heard of sin from those who serve to defend
So why do they keep hurting our men?
Hurting our friends, it hurts to pretend
Like everything is alright when the hurt is within
Oh, but don’t let me get a gun, put that hurt into them
Cause that’s wrong, right? Like ain’t no value in us?
I put my life inside your hands, you took my value of trust
How can I ever feel safe when your values corrupt
And what’s worse, I’m young and black, court won’t put up a fuss.
“Sigh.” I could’ve become a doctor at best
Save the life to save a life, cops lost the memo I guess
He lost a brother, she lost a friend they can’t ever get back
If justice isn’t served, how long in peace can we rest?
Terrell Kellam, 19
Morgan State University
Bitten by the teeth that tear
Left to die without a care.
These are the souls they cry for.
These are the souls they cry for. The souls that were
Young who no longer run
Who lie beneath soiled expressions.
Dawnya Johnson, 17
Seton Keough High School
As young black people we’ve been nested into a false sense of security. We’ve been pushed to think that the system we were born into is trying to work in our interest. But we’ve been fooled. In a nation where your skin color determines whether or not you will “hurt” the person whose paycheck you and your parents pay, you’re not safe. I know that despite current events, this has happened before and it will happen again.
Why? We ask. Why does this happen to us?
Because we as black people have not been granted the same level of opportunity as white people in this country, and we’ve allowed it. We’ve allowed a country that our great, great, great grandparents built. Brick by brick on my grandfather’s back. White baby by white baby on my grandmother’s hop. I understand how this happened through.
When you lose, and lose, and lose; you eventually give up. The black community gave up, went into a state of shock. We have a mission now, though.
Now we are charged with the mission of liberating black people. Not just marching on Washington, not just boycotting the systems that already exist. Building our own, supporting our own, developing our own. This is the job of our generation and the only chance of liberation in a system that wasn’t built for blacks, hispanics, women, or anyone who’s not an old white rich guy. This is an opening. Will we take it?
Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School
The New Jim Crow
Hey, whaddaya know?
It’s our friend Jim Crow.
And nowadays he’s
Running America’s show.
Took Mamie Till’s son
And Michael Brown in Ferguson
Get us running from the cops
And cleaning blood with mops.
Believing old pains and forgotten sorrow,
African Americans, meet the New Jim Crow.
Storm Lee, 19
Community College of Baltimore County
Gather round, we’re here to talk about Ferguson
Ferguson heard of sin from those who serve to defend
So why do they keep hurting our men?
Hurting our friends, it hurts to pretend
Like everything is alright when the hurt is within
Oh, but don’t let me get a gun, put that hurt into them
Cause that’s wrong, right? Like ain’t no value in us?
I put my life inside your hands, you took my value of trust
How can I ever feel safe when your values corrupt
And what’s worse, I’m young and black, court won’t put up a fuss.
“Sigh.” I could’ve become a doctor at best
Save the life to save a life, cops lost the memo I guess
He lost a brother, she lost a friend they can’t ever get back
If justice isn’t served, how long in peace can we rest?
Terrell Kellam, 19
Morgan State University
Bitten by the teeth that tear
Left to die without a care.
These are the souls they cry for.
These are the souls they cry for. The souls that were
Young who no longer run
Who lie beneath soiled expressions.
Dawnya Johnson, 17
Seton Keough High School
As young black people we’ve been nested into a false sense of security. We’ve been pushed to think that the system we were born into is trying to work in our interest. But we’ve been fooled. In a nation where your skin color determines whether or not you will “hurt” the person whose paycheck you and your parents pay, you’re not safe. I know that despite current events, this has happened before and it will happen again.
Why? We ask. Why does this happen to us?
Because we as black people have not been granted the same level of opportunity as white people in this country, and we’ve allowed it. We’ve allowed a country that our great, great, great grandparents built. Brick by brick on my grandfather’s back. White baby by white baby on my grandmother’s hop. I understand how this happened through.
When you lose, and lose, and lose; you eventually give up. The black community gave up, went into a state of shock. We have a mission now, though.
Now we are charged with the mission of liberating black people. Not just marching on Washington, not just boycotting the systems that already exist. Building our own, supporting our own, developing our own. This is the job of our generation and the only chance of liberation in a system that wasn’t built for blacks, hispanics, women, or anyone who’s not an old white rich guy. This is an opening. Will we take it?