Not a poem but in protest of flagging truth about racism in Traverse City, Michigan


Traverse City, Michigan: Racism is still alive and well in our area.

We weren't always welcoming
Cross burning's (City of Traverse City, MI)
I'm born and raised in Traverse City, Michigan and still living in the same neighborhood where I grew up. I can remember when blacks were not welcome in most parts of town and the one or two around were military visitors.

We had two known cross burning incidents. One back in the late 80's or early 90's the other was around 1924, ******* groups like Ku Klux **** was behind both cross burning incidents. I found old articles on the earlier one but someone is trying hard to white wash history of Traverse City by hiding evidence of the most resent one. Ones like me who were there remember those dark days like it was yesterday. It don't bode well for tourism or the Cherry Festival if there's a record of racism in our city.

Copy pasting one two different retelling of story reported by our sometimes biased Record Eagle articles regarding the first and and will continue to dig for the other one.

January 31, 2009
KKK was active in early '20s

The 1924 bombings and cross burnings in downtown Traverse City were not the first **** activity in northern Michigan.

The Record-Eagle reported flaming crosses in the Mancelona area on Aug. 1, 1923, a full year before. Six weeks later, Traverse City commissioners refused the **** permission to hold a Sept. 17 open-air meeting at the corner of Front and Cass.

About 300 people showed up anyway and marched to a vacant lot west of Front and Union after the unidentified property owner gave permission, carefully noting that it "did not commit him to any relationship with the organization," the newspaper said.

The Record-Eagle also passed on information from an identified **** source in its Sept. 17 report:

Two, maybe three organizers had worked for weeks in Traverse City. About 150 Traverse City men from "among the leading citizens" had joined. An open-air ritual with the traditional fiery cross burning on a hillside would be held "sometime but not yet" in or near Traverse City, and it would be "merely a part of the **** ceremonies and have no special significance."

People who expected to see hooded men in white robes performing rites at the Sept. 17 rally were bound to be disappointed, the paper said. A new state law banned wearing masks in public. It also would be difficult to tell how many in the audience were KKK members because "every person who has signed the Ku Klux card has pledged to keep his membership an absolute secret."


Traverse City, Michigan wasn't always welcoming to people of color.


Traverse City Record-Eagle

February 1, 2009
Ku Klux **** terrorizes TC in 1924

KKK cross burnings, explosions rock city

By LORAINE ANDERSON
Black History Month has special significance, since it begins fewer than two weeks after the nation's historic inauguration of its first black president, Barack Obama.

But there are parts of that history that Traverse City, like the rest of the nation, would rather forget. The city never had a large black population, but it did not escape a visit from the Ku Klux **** during a frightening night of downtown explosions and cross burnings on Aug. 9, 1924.

Traverse City has never seen anything like that night of terror. Buildings shook. Store windows cracked and shattered. Houses as far away as 16th Street quaked, the Record-Eagle reported.

And though outside agitators were blamed, some local people may have been involved.

It started about 8 p.m. after three explosions went off across the river from the Lyric Theatre, where the State is today.

The crowd at the Lyric all but stampeded toward the door as women and children screamed. Panicked shoppers spilled out of downtown stores. City police phones jangled with alarm.

A large cross burned on the north side of the Boardman River near Cass Street. About 50 smaller burning crosses appeared almost simultaneously at the centers of intersections across the city. Each was crudely nailed together and swathed in oil-soaked rags. Sparks flew when several cars struck them. A city fire truck raced through town to douse flames.

Then, a "touring car" with four men, robed and hooded, though not masked, slowly trolled down Front Street carrying a sign surrounded by red flares blazing three letters: KKK.

Copies of the Ku Klux **** newspaper, "The Fiery Cross," later were found downtown, and police determined that at least two cars were involved in planting and lighting the crosses.

**** leaders called the explosions and flaming crosses a recruiting gimmick, but it was more than that. The 1920s was a reactionary time in the United States. The **** had risen again, starting in 1915, widening its anti-black focus to Jews, Catholics and immigrants, particularly those from southeastern Europe. Its membership was strongest in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

The ****'s most powerful year was 1924, when it reached an all-time high of 5 million members nationwide and virtually controlled the government of Indiana. Its most popular slogan was "100 percent pure American."

The **** had a solid base of support in Michigan. The **** fielded two candidates in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1924 and a ****-backed candidate was elected mayor of Flint. A write-in **** candidate even made a strong showing in a Detroit mayoral race.

In June 1924, 1,000 men joined the KKK in an Oakland County cross burning attended by about 8,000 people. Traverse City's demonstration took place just two months later. But who was really behind it?

"There is some doubt among the authorities as to whether the offenses were actually committed by local people or men from outside. They believe that local people were associated in the affair," the Record-Eagle reported.

An unidentified spokesman for the local **** denied responsibility, speculating that it was the work of **** enemies or rogue Klansmen. He told the Record-Eagle that the **** repudiated terror tactics and burning of "unwatched crosses."

Two weeks after the bombing, city police obtained felony and misdemeanor arrest warrants accusing Ku Klux **** organizer Basil Carleton of Richmond, Ind., of setting off explosives. Indiana police arrested him on Aug. 29.

Witnesses testified in two trials in December and January that Carleton had purchased 25 pounds of dynamite, fuses and three caps from Hannah & Lay Mercantile Co. about two hours before the explosions. A Park Place Hotel clerk said he saw Carleton hurrying away from the direction of the explosions about 10 minutes later. Two **** members testified that Carleton was not at the scene.

Yet he was never convicted. Juries acquitted him in both cases because the prosecutor could not prove to their satisfaction that he was at the scene of the explosion or that he personally set off the dynamite.

The bomber escaped justice. But the good news was that in Traverse City, no night of terror like that happened again.

It was this event that sparked the cross burning in Traverse City. We had only one black family in our city, when Betty Ponder and her family left Traverse City for the first time due to no one wanting to rent to them, population of blacks in our predominately white city drop to zero.


******* Movement Targets Northern Michigan

by Robert Downes

National Alliance advocates the creation of "two Americas"

Traverse City, Mich., noted primarily for its beaches, tourists and cherry pie values, appears to be erupting as a national battleground of opinion over the ******* movement, with forces on both sides of the issue coming out of the woodwork to vent their outrage over racial issues.
On Thursday, June 5, residents along stretches of Washington and Front streets in town came home to find a slick package of information from the National Alliance hanging from their doorknobs. An outgrowth of the American **** Party, the National Alliance is a ******* group which advocates the creation of "two Americas," one of which would be "White Space only with no Jews or blacks." The Alliance, advocates genocidal practices if need be to achieve its goals, and plans to distribute 1,000 information packets in Northern Michigan.

Protest organized to oppose July "NordicFest"
The incident arose only a day after more than 150 people from throughout Northern Michigan gathered at a "Hate-Free TC" meeting to oppose the NordicFest, a skinhead rock festival sponsored by the Ku Klux ****, to be held at a secret location 20 miles south of town, July 3-6.
The NordicFest is being advertised on the Internet and will feature at least six skinhead bands featured on Stormfront Records and Resistance Records -- both of which are purveyors of neo-**** hate music. It will also reportedly feature speakers from the Ku Klux **** and Aryan Nations.

Thus far, the NordicFest's location has been a closely-kept secret by David Neumann of Bloodbond Enterprizes, the concert organizer and a former director of the Michigan Knights of the Ku Klux ****. Neumann has told local media that 300 tickets have been sold for the concert -- about half the number he expects to sell. Reportedly, concertgoers will be provided with maps to the secret location at a checkpoint.

Bands expected to play at the NordicFest include Intimidation One, Aggravated Assault, Blue Eyed Devils, Max Resist and the Hooligans, and No Alibi.

Local churches offering seminars on the ******* movement and the importance of diversity
GATHERING STORM

Journalists have made inquiries on the NordicFest from as far away as London, New York and Colorado as a result of the Northern Express story circulating on the Internet. A segment for National Public Radio is expected to take the issue nationwide, possibly focusing the world's attention on Traverse City on the eve of the National Cherry Festival -- an event which draws more than half a million visitors, many of them from ethnic minorities.
"We're creating a rainbow ribbon that we hope everyone will wear in rejection of skinheads and the ****," said Rabbi Stacey Fine of Hate-Free TC. "We hope to have hundreds of ribbons during the time the **** is here, available from downtown merchants."

Fine says the group also hopes to march in the National Cherry Royale Parade with a three-by-eight-foot banner covered with thousands of signatures in a show of support for racial and cultural diversity. Thus far, Cherry Festival officials say they have received no applications from Hate-Free T.C., but will consider the request if approached.

Dottie Kye of Hate-Free TC says the group doesn't plan to try stopping the NordicFest despite their opposition ot the concert. "We're ignoring it," Kye says. "We celebrate anyone's right to organize and free speech. But our thing is unity and celebrating diversity." In addition to several church seminars on the ******* movement and the importance of diversity, Hate-Free TC is organizing a three-day "Unity Festival" which will feature dozens of musicians, artists, poets, actors and peace activists at the Traverse City Opera House, July 3-6.

Concert organizers Tim Hall and Tom Emmott say that more than 40 musical acts will send a pro-diversity message to area teens, with performers including Willie Kye, Alright Already, John Greilick, Samantha Moore, the Motor Town Juke Boys, Bentley Filmore, the Sisters Grimm, and Lack of Afro, among many others. A concert with Fishbone is planned for later in the month.

"Even if the NordicFest doesn't happen, something positive is going to come of it because it gets people thinking about the prevention of violence"
THE TEEN CONNECTION

The Unity Fest counter-concert is seen as a vital tool in fighting the influence of the ******* movement on teens in the area. After the initial story broke, the buzz in local high schools was that the NordicFest would be offering free beer to minors. Although that notion is clearly erroneous, a small number of teens in the area still cling to the idea and have also been attracted by the rebellious nature of the skinhead rock scene.
Tim Hall believes that his Unity Fest concert will help turn that tide. The three-day concert will be located in the heart of Traverse City in the old City Opera House, with easy access for the hundreds of teens who hang out downtown, often with little to do. "Our message is going to be one that values racial and cultural diversity," Hall said. "And we've had a great response so far. We had to put a lid on the performers when we reached 40 acts, because everyone wants to play at this event."

The Unity Fest will also coincide with the Annual Reggie Box Memorial Blues Blast, which was created five years ago to bring the heritage of black music to Northern Michigan for the overwhelmingly white Cherry Festival. This year's Blues Blast will feature John Mayall, Marcia Ball and the Bihlman Bros. in a free concert downtown on July 6. The concert will also feature a strong message promoting diversity.

The law enforcement view Traverse City Police Chief Ralph Soffredine says members of the law enforcement community, including the State Police and sheriffs from Grand Traverse and Wexford counties, are taking a wait-and-see approach as to whether the NordicFest will even be held.

"People ask what we would do if the skinheads wanted to march, and it's our position that they have the same rights under the First Amendment as anyone as long as they're obeying the law," Soffredine said. "It's a neutral situation for us. We just want to maintain the peace."

He added that skinheads coming to Traverse City would be treated "no different than if longhairs come into town, or square dancers. We'd certainly observe them and respond if there's trouble."

The chief noted that a similar event occurred in the Buckley area several years ago when several motorcycle gangs gathered for a rally. While the event was monitored by local police agencies, few people in the area knew that it occurred.

"Even if the NordicFest doesn't happen, something positive is going to come of it because it gets people thinking about the prevention of violence, which has become a serious problem in our community and our schools," he concluded. "The unfortunate thing is that it sometimes takes a ******* or a racial issue for people to get active."

"Sheriff Barr implies that people who have the courage to confront them will be put in jail."
ANGER FROM ACTIVISTS

Not everyone is happy with the neutral attitude of law enforcement. Judy Lowenzahn of Traverse City thinks that local police agencies should get tough on the **** concert, which has no legally-required bond or liquor license.
"These hateful groups are using skinhead music to recruit soldiers for their facist movement," Lowenzahn said. "If they are allowed to hold this event, in violation of local, state and federal laws and in violation of common decency, we will be capitve audience to their deranged homophobic, anti-semitic, racist, sexist ideology. Those who protest this message, along with those who are their scapegoats will be targets for hate crimes."

Lowenzahn upbraided Grand Traverse County Sheriff Barr after he made comments in a local paper that "I'd just as soon personally let them have their little event and be on their way." Barr added that if there was a confrontation between the skinheads and protestors, "there's going to be someone in jail."

"Does Sheriff Barr suggest that people of color and others who don't fit the aryan model hide inside their homes for the holiday weekend?" Lowenzhan responded. "Rather than offer a plan to protect the community from the violence that grows whenever white supremecists do outreach, Sheriff Barr implies that people who have the courage to confront them will be put in jail."

Northern Michigan targeted because of the predominantly white population
KLUELESS

Up to now, the vast majority of Northern Michigan residents have been klueless on the **** and the ******* movement. Many, for instance, had no idea that there even was a Ku Klux **** operating in the region until Neumann revealed that there are about 60 members operating mostly as "a fraternal organization" between ******* and the Mackinac Bridge.
Similarly, the existence and agenda of the National Alliance is all-ne

The cold prison bars, our legal boundary,
Now that you've left my character soaked in blood.
Critics, juries, invisible enemies,
Stomping words on my face as I ***** my pride.

Collecting flak coins in your pockets, truths they speak,
At least that's what you believe, and that's all you seek.
Hearing their loathe in your dark room's embrace,
Their laughs haunt more than nightmares, a chilling trace.

No guns and bullets, yet skilled to ****,
As you turn your back, they stab, you kneel.
With a knife of deception and treachery,
Wishing you'd die in a blink, yet they torture gradually.

"You always say you're such a prey, a dupe
Who would believe when you're the willing victim?"
Stay in your dark prison where you belong
Grasp your hands 'til it warms, you're safe for now

All they wanted to see is your shame penance
Cold prison bars, you were jailed for their crime
You died from all their stabs of criticisms and lies
Screaming, "Is this enough? Are you satisfied?"

Wish you could tell them you're not a culprit
Who takes the blame of their offense of no sense
But a lawbreaker of her own pity constitution
Who put her ordinance behind to lavish their pride

Thought restrictions would drive you wild
But dark walls were painted of a free hand
Thought solitude will lose your mind
Yet you found the old self, your true friend

You've never been the same, never been better
Like a spy with filters in hands sifting hurtful words
That no matter how they abuse, damage or ******
Love makes you brand new to go overboard

Walking past through the hall of deliverance
Found golden keys to release your handcuffs
Your uniform now glitters changing in white dress
Only pure hearts can recognize your new price

At the end of the spectrum love is patient and waiting
It blinds you the moment it swallows your dark sides
Echoing something you've never heard of,
"Without your death, you couldn't have been reborn this anew so gloriously indestructible"

Like a dying tree in front yard that is too sick to save
Left unmoved could **** other surrounding trees
So in your cold prison, they planted your roots to die
But from that safe place, your roots reached their soil of disgrace

Victims learn from mistakes but false altruism attracts you
They hunt you again this time now in your white dress
So jump high with your butterfly wings, soar in the sky
Above those hunters, above the cold prison bar

caveat! —bursting out as the fuse fetters away
wafting t'ward oil spills, tranquilized guns
with pace maker minds
and time to ****

sickle celled, graving shores
plead to crawl underground
through cascading bile and sedatives
that sift through these negatives
like bangled thieves
who crawl on broken knees
and lie idle under haunted bridges.

bouldered bones intertwine
or veins cut along a dotted line
caveat! cries the sayer's sooth,
for he says it scours and devours—
the slinking nightmare sleuth.

the tar is interrupted in carved equinoxes
soak in the crippled toxins
as the air becomes as thick as theophany
and tharm like grease in blood that take me in,
through ash and mud and
all the spider webs caving in
like delicate gorges forges beneath
nightmare sleuth reaching zenith

caveat, silhouettes
stretched out like oil in water
and this silicon tomb can hold me no longer
for i must break out before i am a goner
because it's a mistake that i'll never shake
your face turns opaque
and there was nothing in your eyes
but dripping flesh

wring out all your words for me
your jeers and your juries
but go cling to your crutch
your kings and your qualms
and the church that burns
in its hallow vacancy

for none can resist the urge
that thieves its delinquents from catatonic catacombs
and quagmire junctions
where the swamp will **** you in
and festering sweat sticks like guilt to your skin
and hell is a nightclub where every loss is a life
and heaven's a daydream with your neck to the knife
it needs no rhyme or reason
and every slip of your broken lip
just lose your grip and give in to the treason
would you rather burn at the stake
than suffer your cement heart break
with no reason or rhyme
it's just the weight of the season

backdrop collapse
railroads unfolding
and like a cell storm the train
is coming your way

and slinks away like a nightmare sleuth
it just takes one swipe of the claw
or one bite of the tooth
and it drags you in
feel the sidewalk sleeping
and the blinking lights creeping
above the overpass
and the cold wind reeling--
it'll be your last.

the choppers blades
unaware
the cleansing of color

twist in the wind
like the means of unfit mothers
champions
of unfounded snare

who's revolution
of her weighted intent
should be held to account
when justness is spent

the judges, juries
and executioners trail
hovering the bluster
as appellants flail

<------------->

the choppers blades
unaware
the cleansing of color....

Strange, except true.
Some folks refuses to face the real truth.
Whenever asked, who profited more from racism?

Since Civil War and probably before.
We all within the real world know this answer.

Using the politicians present and of the days of old.
They craft legislature to hold back some.
Just like laws created to banned throw from counters and selected water fountains.
Where the water were the same color?

So, who profited more from racism?

Presently, we heard "Black Lives Matter" which isn't against any particular group.
But as with any controversy some complains and miss the point.
Which were addressing verdicts decided by juries in courts.

Where some are dead on?
And others completely wrong.
Then like a Four Tops songs "It's The Same Old Song".
The power that be always complains they being done wrong.

Without addressing, who profited more from racism?
Families with good connection.
Where their child should be serving time?
Instead on probation seeking some type treatment.
Because the power of wealth works decisive in those decision.

Facts, has been written and analyzed several times.
That white often don't how to handle conflicts with others.
Then when you bring this up.
Many use the reverse racism tricks.

Failing to comprehend many white judges courts decision that got off many.
We seen this in Alabama and Mississippi during the sixties.
And continue to in the present.
If up for votes whites would revert back to segregation.

Cause been on a competing level they finding out education truly matters.
Then they had better schools in the past.
And was the creator of white flight.

But history has pointed out during days of old they terrorized blacks during the nights.

So who profited off of racism?
Of course this is just one person's question?

Kicking pine cones , hands in pockets with my favorite scarf on ..
Outfitted like a business man with something important to decide ,
a lawyer testing a juries intellect , like an important subversive agent with a clandestine government ...
Walking the fence line , dressed to save the world someday , my flashy duds turning heads , yet their only clothes , and clothes never did make the man so they say !
Fancy leather gloves , gold cuff links , cashmere sweater with well planned schemes ..
Upscale hero with a prominent address , four star restaurants , high end assets ..
Caviar and red wine , penthouse vista .. Fancy cigars and first class tickets ..
I'm still Cocoa Cola , cheese and crackers , homemade biscuits ..
Forever overalls , laying hens and sour mash whiskey ..

If those that was wrong was convicted.
Then many wouldn't protest the verdict.
Or have to say police lives matter.

All lives matters, in terms of human respect.

Too many times crooked cop exist because the good cops refuses to report them.
So they go on scheming money from the drug dealers.
Many with their own stories to tell themselves.
Yes, a shake down many citizens knows so well.

Yes, police lives matters.
Simply cause of the danger of the job.
But you have a few shaky ones quick to pull the trigger.

Who don't know the excuse used constantly?
Which is "I felt threaten for my life".
Even if shot forty feet away.
And the object in hand requires them to be inches closer to harm them.

Most juries are sympathy cases to law enforcers.
Especially when the evidence convicts them.
And you hear a not guilty verdict.

For every innocent victim abused , killed by mistakes.
Their life was just as important too.
And we hardly hear them crying "their lives matter".

Yes, police lives matters.
Not because of the job.
But because some went the distance to severe and protect.
And was wise on when to use their assigned weapon.

I'm seeking justice.
Not to clear my name.
But, I'm if we committed the same crime.
Why aren't we serving the same amount f time?

How can he get twenty years?
And I get ten years more.
This is the injustice that I wants to explore.

We stood before the same judge and confessed.
Sure, we had different lawyers representing us.
Still that no reason I was given more time.
Who proclaim racism doesn't rear it hidden eyes?

No, I'm not upset with my friend for good represntation.
I'm just mad about the situation.

So, I'm seeking justice.
And will to the very end.
Least until they reduce my sentence, by ten.

What are you proven if I serve more?
I still be fighting until things gets changed.
And, I'll be doing it in justice name.

So, don't get mad if I make the nes?
I just wants to say many juries and judges are complete fools.

Challenge it.
Don't downplay racism like it doesn't exist.
Yes, challenge it.

Don't matter what direction it comes from.
Or race.
More likely the race they speak negatively about.
Is also the race they afraid to face.

Listen, there's none so idiotic than a bigot.
Who only strength of stupidity comes from his supporters?
Who stands by then until their fate of consequences comes.

Yes, one group leads to the challenge of bigotry.
Explored it more for the world to see.
Remember, news once avoided confronting it.
Well, except for various black press.

None has to this day explain the four beautiful youth killed in the Alabama church.
A house of worship for people.
So what GOD?
Did these weak white males serve?

We know with all white juries during the sixties that justice wasn't served.
Why?
Who had to live among the bigots but them the most.

It's wasn't Trumpy that showcase white hate.
It came more to light when Prez. Obama led the government and it slowly came back into view.

One thing all minorities are aware?
When push comes to shove?
They the first reaching out for love.

And get more enraged when minorities treat them in the same way.
With an evil for evil reaction.

Remember, to challenge racism?
Don't downplay it.

For sickness get worse when you avoid the medicine of love.

A man broke into my house and killed my entire family.
Because of his corrupt lawyer, he was found not guilty.
He killed another family and was found not guilty a second time.
His lawyer convinced the juries to find him innocent of the crimes.
I was going to have vengeance by killing him and I was really going to do it.
But God was just as angry as I was and he beat me to it.
The killer got third degree burns all over his body when he was engulfed by flames.
God made him pay because he was an abomination who brought nothing but shame.
I went through hell when he was found not guilty, it was too much to sustain.
He survived for four days after being burned and he was in excruciating pain.
I was working on night shift and that's why I wasn't able to protect my family.
God's vengeance was worse than my own, that's why the killer died in agony.

We rise,
on ocassion,
to drink the blood
of our brothers.

The original vampires
drink the blood of youth,
and bring about the
wandering
and
ill-placed
musings
of old age.

With bitterness
we control our own destinies,
it is not fate
that is cynical with luck,
it is us,
cynical because of fate.

When we take control,
finally
in the last days of men,
we will see compassion
for what it really was,
the Jesus,
the salvation,
the temptation
that we never wasted
our energy on.

I still think
that demons crowd the plains
of our thought,
like gazelles
waiting to be gorged upon.

Demons
keep us down,
keep us in the waterfall
of stupidity
and
self-loathing.

Don't look back,
the demons take control then,
they hold sway
when the juries of our souls
let them talk
without consequence.-

A nominal amount of pain
when the lights go on.
You roll lines around in your head
and realize you remember none.
There’s only the dull stink of cigarette smoke
and day old donuts in your mouth.
Your mind seizes and your heart seethes.
What the **** am I doing here?
Nothing more than a back alley bard.
A barbarian without grace
with a penchant for writing inane ramblings
on cocktail napkins.

A bald man bellows in the back of the room.
An emo princess giggles at her date’s joke.
Drinks sloshed, cigars inhaled.
All awaiting the crash and burn,
or the entertainment they came to see.
They want a rock star.
They want a sideshow freak.
They will boo, they will howl,
They may even clap if the timings right.

Damon Malio goes up before me.
That ******* is as smooth as silk
and as suave as the day’s first rays.
Hell, I even want to run up there
and kiss the *******.
He has a rapacious tongue,
stealing every good word in the English language.
Banging away with syllables and gestures,
the room is vibing to his beat.

Knots in my stomach
and an ache in my brain.
A dull thump followed by
the whisper of “Fraud.”
                          “Failure.”
It’s that little boy voice
that used to get tormented in grade school.
The urge hits to wither away.

The only escape route is blocked by bouncers
at the back door.
I’m trapped here with the prison guards.
No semblance of thought,
just a rattle, panic and hate.
I’m a predator in a room full of rodents,
ready to eat me alive.

There are no outs,
only the get up there
and get out the vivid images
alive inside of me.
Right before I go up on stage
I touch the brick wall.
Tangible, tactile, rough and cool.
I laugh under my breath.
That’s the way people describe me.

If you ever wanted to hear a pin drop,
now would be a good time.
Staring back are a room full of strangers,
Murmuring, waiting for the show to begin.
I see a table full of beautiful women,
the tattooed, artsy types
I get weak in the knees for.
An older gentleman looking impatient for me to speak.
Clearly a professor of some sort.

I clear my throat.
Startling myself
at the loudness of it.
Loud…voice…speak…speak…speak.

“I’m a salty *******.
I could have been a Sabine
if I hadn’t been born in the wrong time,
to the wrong class of people
and a deformity looming larger than life.
That literary je ne sais quoi that working men
and the saviors of syphilis have.
The questionable knowledge that the
seafaring folk were instrumental
in my christening.

I’ll bring God’s ministry to Hades
and two tons of luck to riverboat gamblers
with fortuitous use of four aces.
I’ll bless the maître d’s war against the moguls
and the matadors quest for the upper hand
in the war of the forlorn.

I’m just kidding ladies and gentleman,
that’s all horseshit”

The crowd looks perplexed.
They aren’t quite there yet,
but we’re getting somewhere.

“We’re actually gathered here today to see the holy matrimony
of poetry and pestilence, art and arrogance.
I’ll be your priest, your prophet along the way.
We’ll channel them into
a seven year split and fifteen days of rage.
We’ll curse the gods of conformity and the spirits of suburban sprawl.
Set fire to the system that binds your mind.
The fallacies told to control you.

I never knew the error of my ways until
I touched God on Tuesday.
She was dead ringer for Greta Garbo,
gracious as a host and divine in her dealings with me.
I saw the white hot heat of Stockholm syndrome
and knew I was in the presence of the pantheon.
Felt swelter and fear,
but she kissed my forehead and whispered that it was all a lie.
The power others presume to hold over me.
The judges, the juries, the couponing maidens, the schoolmarms,
the cops and fathers and armies and vicious tax agents.
The Machiavellian telethon charities
and the undressed hookers pretending to be my saving grace.
The drugs, the music, the books, the *******, the fury of 40 years gone too long and not enough wisdom to die too soon.

I wept when she spoke to me.

Guns will **** you but love will **** you quicker she opined.
Obfuscated words from the otherworldly.
She sent me on a mission to find the words of Sinatra,
the Rat Pack’s subliminal subversion of all that power players hold dear.
The fear the unwashed masses will come.
The provincial mindset that they can procreate proletariats
to be the permanent protectors of their gilded ******* towers.
As I seethed she kissed and soothed me.
She whispered her love and asked me to lie with her.
I thought copulating with God was a heresy.
She told me to lay back and everything would be alright.”

I looked in the eyes of a tattooed temptress
and saw ravenousness for more words.
At least I knew I was getting laid tonight.

There was a new footing.
This vulnerability, baring my *** for all to see.
But there were no boos,
just the synergy of poetry conveyed through me.

“As we lay in the afterglow
I rolled over on one side and asked
how do I rid myself of the devils that plague us?
The bleeding, the burdens of humanity enslaving me?
She smiled playfully and ran her fingers through my hair,
telling me there there, don’t worry your pretty little head.
They can take from you. They can beat you.
They can **** you.
And oh my how they will try.
Governments and men with guns.
A society of rats crushing you with social mores,
moving to tell you what to do and how to live.
They will give speeches of how to behave on AM radio.
Buckle your belt, conserve the earth and be a good dad.
Foster those brats and bleat like sheep
to the tune of an Orwellian world.
I shook as she maddened my mind,
but her touch ran over me with ecstasy.

You will go forth my prophet, my prince,
and spread the word of free men with free minds,
not bound by internet ******* parties,
the latest legal trouble for B-listers
and all the trivialities of brainwashing.
The baubles betrothed to those without
imagination or the ***** to seek the truth.”

These Words Are Ones ...
On Which To ... " CHEW " ...

"Be careful what you do !
Be careful what you do !
If cops are in view,
and you're being pursued !"

Because ...
NOW They'll SHOOT Like ADDICTS Do ... !!!!!!!

ADDICTED To KILLING of INNOCENT Victims ... !!!
INNOCENT YES ... Until GUILTY Is Said ...

But Be CAREFUL What You Do ...
When Dealing With The FEDS' ... !!!

Innocence CAN'T Protect Your Chest From BULLETS ... !!!
Cos' They FIRE At CHESTS Instead of At LEGS ... !?!

They SHOOT But MISS Arms ...
Instead ... They PIERCE HEARTS ... !?!

Their AIM Shuts DOWN Brains ... ?!?
In Similar Ways ... To Those Who DRUG TAKE ... !!!

But Make NO MISTAKE ...

They OVERDOSE Nowadays On EMPTYING Veins ... !!!
And Then Making CLAIMS Like ... They Were AFRAID ... !!!!

To ABSOLVE Them From Blame ...
When Juries They Face Have To Hear Them Relate ...

How ...

"Blacks made them shake, so that's why they fired !" ...

Well This AIN'T ... " The Wire " ...
Or ..... " Spenser For Hire " ..... !!!

Their Murders Are REAL And Now Phone Cams' REVEAL ...
How They FABRICATE ... Like Uniformed LIARS ... !!!!!!!!!!

From DUGGAN In London …
To US Cops FRONTIN' ...
About How Their Function …
NOW NEEDS MORE Than Truncheon ... !!!!!!

Be CAREFUL What You Do ...
Cos' Cops Now ARE Sumthin' ... !!!!!

SHOOTING Old Dudes EIGHT Times Like it's COOL ... ?!?

And THAT Is Some TRUTH …
That's RARELY Produced ...
INSIDE Their Courtrooms …
To CONVICT Feds' Accused …
of MURDEROUS Moves ... !!!

Because Their STATUTE ...
Is What Constitutes THIS Type of ABUSE ... !!!

That RUNS Institutions ...
Where RACIST Collusions …
Have LONG BEEN In Use ... !!!!!!!

BEFORE They Could CLAIM ...

.... " EQUALITY REIGNS " .... !?!

Be CAREFUL What You SAY ... !!!!!
Cos' THAT ... AIN'T The Way ... !!!!!!

Equality ISN'T Eight Shots In YOUR BACK ... !!!
Or FACING Gun Claps Just Because You're BLACK ... ?!?

Be CAREFUL What You Do When BLACKNESS Is YOU ... !!!!!
And THAT IS More TRUTH Folks SHOULDN'T Confuse ... !!!!!

This ISN'T Some Stuff Black People ... " MAKE UP " ... !?!

We HAVE To Be Cool When FACING White FOOLS ... !!!!!
Who ARE SO INSECURE That They'll FIRE Fa' SURE ...

... Just Because We're BLACK ... ?!?

So We HAVE To Be WISE When It Comes To Our Buys ...
Be CAREFUL What You DO If You're Black And Get LOOT ... !!!

DON'T PLAY That Your Cash …
Makes You GREEN and NOT Black ... ?!?

DON'T Buy A Backpack …
If Trains And Their Tracks Are How You Make Moves ...

BRAZIL Knows The Coup ...
About LONDON Cops Who LIE And Do WRONG ... !!!

Po' Po' Were The NEMESIS ...
of ... Jean Charles De Menezes' ... !!!!!

An INCREDIBLE ACT They CANNOT Take Back ... !!!

They Left That Man FLAT ... !!!
Cos' They CLAIMED That ... " He Ran ! " ...

And Was About To COMMIT A ... TERROR Attack ... !!!!!!

" BE CAREFUL " ... Should NOW ...
Become The NEW SOUND When Police Sirens HOWL .... !!!!!

Because They're Like ... WOLVES ...
Now HUNTING In PACKS To TERRORISE Blacks ... !!!!!

They NEED Terror Laws For Po' Po' ... Fa SURE ... !!!!!!!!!!

Because What's ...................... ignored .....
... IS TERROR They FLAUNT ... !!!!!

As If They Have Rights ... " Saintly and DIVINE " ... ?!?

To **** Who They Like ... UNLESS They Are WHITE ... !!!
OKAY Whites Die TOO ... But Like Asian Dudes ...

How MANY Get SHOT Just Like WALTER SCOTT ... ?!!!?

Well That's ALL I've Got For THIS ... " Mini - Play " ...

" Be Careful What You SAY " ...
PRE-DATES This ... Wordplay ... !!!

But BOTH Are In TRUTH  Poems That Give PROOF ...
That ORDERS And Moves Are REALLY NOT NEW ...

But That MODERN News ...
SHOWS IGNORANCE Brews ... !!!
So We CAN'T Continue ...
To Let ... Being HUMANE ...
Get FLUSHED DOWN THE DRAIN ... !!!!!!

Or To ... EMBRACE These Sayings ...
YEAH Ones Like ... These TWO ...

" Be Careful What You Say ! " ...

And ......

" Be CAREFUL What You DO ! " ...

Tired Of This Conversation
By: Cedric McClester

Another unarmed person is killed
By a cop
It’s usually someone black or brown
Is it not?
It shouldn’t matter what the color
It’s just has to stop
Before another person
Gets choked or shot

Say you’re tired of this conversation
Well so am I
But I don’t wanna see another person
Needlessly die
No matter what the rational
Or the reason why
You can’t bring ‘em back to life
With a tried alibi

No one said a policeman’s job
Isn’t hard
But that’s no reason why we
Have to be on guard
If we’re black or brown
In order to ******
The fact that we’re in fear of them
For a start

Say you’re tired of this conversation
Well so am I
But I don’t wanna see another person
Needlessly die
No matter what the rational
Or the reason why
You can’t bring ‘em back to life
With a tired alibi

You’re tired of this conversation
We are too
But all across this nation
There’s people on the move
Hoping the situation somehow
Will improve
So that we can put the needle
Back in the groove

Say you’re tired of this conversation
Well so am I
But I don’t wanna see another person
Needlessly die
No matter what the rational
Or the reason why
You can’t bring ‘em back to life
With a tired alibi

Grand juries will sit down
But never indict
The perpetrating policemen
And that ain’t right
When they come back with no true bill
That just incites
And moreover it denies
Their civil rights

Say you’re tired of this conversation
Well so am I
But I don’t wanna see another person
Needlessly die
No matter what the rational
Or the reason why
You can’t bring ‘em back to life
With a tired alibi

(c) Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester.  All rights reserved.

When have police officers ever had a great reputation?
Just when?
When many of one race has never adapted to changes within society.
During the segregation days of injustice by many.
And harassment by others.
It's to be expected sooner or later police would face problems.

In all honesty white cops doesn't know how to approach black males.
Or even Latinos.
Just speaking truth.

To serve and protect means more than that.
It's also means earning respect.
Which we know isn't always given.

Many whites feel very uncomfortable within groups of minorities.
Just speaking truth.
Those that does have been raised to respect everyone.
Then you have some that feels no respect for anyone.
Just been honest.

Mobsters have had officers on the take.
And even in present times.
Many still dilute the position with criminal behavior.

Compare minorities cops to white cops.
And this shoot to **** is less among them.
It's all within the talk and people's skills.

Sure white population support them.
They get harass less from them.
And it shows.
While they more suspicious by some minorities.
Just speaking truth.

It hurts, when truth is exposed.
But than many juries are not wised to convict.
When evidence points to a fair deal of justice.

Let not a badge dictate them innocent.
When facts states truthfully that they are guilty.
And than you ponder why folks says, where is the justice?

Admit many are racist.
Admit many deserve to be in prison.
Face the facts.

Notice which race commit the same crime as minorities.
But gets a different sentence for the same crime.
Just speaking truth.
For truth lies within.

Then again, some officers will be offended.
That's just the way it is.
Truth hurts.
Especially when it directed toward them.

As long as you resign you won't face prosecution.
It must be great to be an officer of law enforcement to serve and protect.
Even if you're surrounded among bad apples.

The cops that racist and get caught up in crime.
As long as you resign you won't face prosecution.

The cops that wrongly **** suspects and the juries support them.
When evidence of facts convicts them.
As long as you resign you won't face prosecution.

Notice, something here?
Sometimes you wonder who the real criminals?
The District Attorney like many judges works for the same division called law.

And most likely not brave enough to make those tough decisions to prosecute.
As long as they resign they won't be prosecuted to injustice.

For rapes
For keeping drug dealers money
For spousal abuse
For violating suspects rights
Even for being slightly racist
For hardly anything.

It's great to be a police officer.
Until the city gets sued and lose.

Oh, pretty black Americans, we aware many disputes your importance.
Just like they did the protest of Martin Luther King or the eloquent of Malcolm X.

Many whites quick to deny your cause by stating all lives matter.
Except, it's strange that those criticizing BLM barely tackle the racist white groups that holds more horrors than the BLM protesters.

Political figures most white barely ever speak of the foolish with guns that kills students in school.
Or bomb abortion clinics like many, many whites have done.

Not brave enough to attack the NRA because they needs votes.

A group that proclaims their importance gains negative from whites.
Who barely brave to walk within their group.

Similar to fame black colleges BLM holds a purpose when those cries all lives matters.
For whites hadn't faced nothing similar to the killings of minority youth.

We seen church bombed
We know through the years black males hanged from trees.
And all white juries scared and agreed that the perpretators done a good thing.

Why?
Does a group mainly vocalizing themselves of fear?
Scare those that lives safely under theirs created rules.

Locked me in a cage?
Yes but here’s the key, take it.

        Covered my mouth?
Okay yes  but your hands are free
here’s a mic for you, if you need it.

     Tied my hands and feet together?
alright but here’s the box cutter for you.

         Where am i?

you have a gps on your phone.

  ” unknown destination “

Wait ! but whose’s phone is this?

it’s yours

No it isn’t !
how did i get here?

What do you mean ? you’re at home.

no ? we’re near a cliff ?
and why am i dressed like this?
****!
where are we now?

you’re at a courtroom,
       you’ve been put on trial.

for wha-?

NOW STAND UP AND TAKE THE OATH.

I , tony , swear that the evidence
that i shall give, shall be the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me , god.

Is this you? did you do this?
who are you trying to be?
you are living off a lie

Yes- no ! wait!
This isn’t m-!

BANG BANG BANG!
SILENCE ! ORDER ! ORDER!_
Okay Anthony , that’s enough from you.

Juries , do you have a verdict?
Yes, judge.

what’s your verdict?

The charges against the defendant , Anthony.
We find the defendant , guilty!

no ! THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE!

GUARDS! TAKE HIM AWAY !
I hereby sentence Anthony to life!

*CASED CLOSED

I can smell the wax burning
20 candles I dont want to blow out
In only 5 hours
I'll have learned 20 more lessons
On how to be a man
They never teach this in school
How to provide for your own
How to love without getting hurt
Its only mathematics and history
Neither which will save me
From dreading the day
I hear infant cries from across the hall
How do prepare for adulthood
When the world only wants to watch you fail
I have 20 birthday candles to blow out
On only a donut
While I'm speeding through traffic
Rushing to work
Because my alarm didn't go off
How do just grow up
When nobody teaches you about life
Its not a manual you can read
Its not a book you can check out
Its just something you learn the hard way
So before you ask me who gave me
Black eyes and broken bones
Know life has been beating the **** out me
Because I was never ready
For a life where only you
Stood before judges and juries
Sentenced to death
For murdering the voices
You grew tired of hearing
20 years I've struggled
Nothing ever got better
I'm still begging
Someone teach me
Before I face tomorrow

Injustice by justice officials gather serious attention.
But never dealt justice by juries or judges.
Scandal, within the Oakland Police department of serious consequences..
Some deserving of serious justice from the District Attorney.

If "Joe Blow" or "John Doe" was involved with a minor.
Instantly he be seeing serious charges and rightly so.

Now , here you have high rank and file and lower rank sleeping with a teen ******* when seventeen and even after see turned eighteen.
Giving clues when undercover working was being down that might even arrest her.

When investigated?
And facts found that level charges to the officers.
They terminated some and suspend others.

Still, where's the justice?
Of those involved during her minor years.
Many serving time in prison for these charges.

So does the badge gives officers just as wrong rights to not face criminal charges?

Justice must be served to right this wrong.
But than wearing that badge have seen many get free card passes from the District Attorneys many of times.

I guess justice is blind.
When those in offices doesn't bring serious charges.

Now, if anyone should be claiming this line of "I Felt Threaten For My Life."

It should be the black male instead of the law enforcer.
Obviously, history holds the various truth to why?

Maybe, all minorities males should be fearful.

Why put soldiers on trial for their assaults in war?
When we know they facing a hostile threat of the battle field against enemies.

But not rogue killing officers quick to use a gun.
Then holler they felt threaten for their lives.

Anyone of any race should use this line when confronted.
But then you might got get a kind decision like many officers.
Who must know before placing a badge of their chest?
That you placing yourself in a vital place of fear.

TRUTH BE KNOW, officers taught to use the "Felt threaten" for their life.
Whenever they must use their guns.

Only honesty is that most juries are of a certain shade.
Which mirror the group they are trying to convict.

Live and learn.
See and hear.
When injustice isn't seen.
Then violence of retaliation appears.

Many innocent people knows judges and lawyers are one.
Whether it's the defense lawyer or the prosecutor.

If laws states what's against the rules of authority for one?
Then it should apply to those applying the rules too.

So it's shocking that many think violence wouldn't occurred.
When juries is coming back with injustice decisions when evidence points to guilt.

Courts, is where you go seeking justice.
But coming back with rage from oddity decisions.

The dispiriting prison bar is now your frontier,
What left your character drowned in blood,
The environment draws you with fear,
Your living corpse plunge to the befoul scud.

The critics, the juries, virtually invisible enemies,
You need to hear their loathe in the darkness,
Around all these hopeless entities,
It's a woeful depiction of inferno.

They got knives of deception and treachery,
As you turn your back, they stab, you kneel,
Wish you die in a blink, yet torture gradually,
You have entirely deviated the vocation to heal.

Victims learn from mistakes,
You never did,
They will hurt you again for all sakes,
But then you realize you're stuck amid.

Strange, strange thing.
That news takes a twisted story and reported to the public.
Without comprehending that many doesn't listen to the medical establishment.

Some will eat, where they chose?
And could careless about the calories.
Some people just don't pick up weight.

Why?
Because our bodies are different.

Same with people that live to be a hundred.
And states , it's because they didn't smoke.
While many of us know others that live to be a hundred.
And smoked and did it all.

Parties like life was built to enjoy.

Strange that doctors loves to advise.
But doesn't follow their own advice.
Whom hadn't notice the medical employees smoking?
Even has an assigned spot.

And they advertise scary commercial to try to tell people to stop.
Heck, whatever happen to the word EDUCATION?
It was taught to a various of us in this nation.

Strange that the news tries to mold people according to one view.
What works for one?
Won't works for others?

Do you see the news trying to change to suit the other channels?

Strange, strange that certain folks are getting wealthy off odd ball decision.
Smokers charging that the cigarette they smoked cause them cancer.
So the sues the cigarette company and win a decision.

Heck, if that the case.
Then many parents and children's should sue the candy companies.
For each cavities their child get and have to visit the dentist.
Why not?
Sympathy plays a lot in juries paying adults for that smoking habits.
Then, with the candy lawsuits, they might try to blame the parent.

Who could then bring a lawsuit against the grocery store?

Strange, strange, strange.
Then maybe it's just me.

Okay, one thing is cleared to society.
Violence against officers in blue has caught important people attention
Now, what's the punishment?

For those that goes outside the rules of oath and law simply can resign from the force and face no justice at all.

While some are surprised by these outlaws shooting the proud in blue.
Many saw this coming when injustice isn't getting guilty verdicts.

One choked and rules states its against the law.
But justice came to no avail.

Please tell?
Evidence was on tape for the world to see.
One shot in a automobile following orders given.

Still nothing has occurred at present.
Obviously the jury is one makeup of folks that's not brave enough to level conviction.

Mmmmmmm, reminds you of juries of the fifties and sixties.
Same makeup of the same folks.

But this to be expected when laws are passed for citizens to carry legal with permit weapons.
Where many think they tough with than they ever was without.

Please tell.
When will justice prevail.

Blame not the race stating "Lives Matters" cause they being the ones facing punishment the most from the law.
While the other bribes their way through the criminal system.

Another death.
Another white cop involved.
Another black citizen's dead.
And the video tells the truth.

But the case takes on racial tones.
When you see it's one of own and the folks that judge guilt.
Say the cops done nothing wrong.

Here we go again?
To see juries get the message wrong.

Then the press plays apart of injustice.
Instead of hammering the politicians will why?
They report of the so called good guys.
We see this many of times.

Especially when they need a police source on the inside.

But than f they should return fire upon the cops.
Watch the press report the story from a different view.
After all these are the folks sworn to protect you and I.

But there comes a time when rage will roar.
Then none of us can proclaim what's for?

Before ever seeing the force of death upon the cross.
He saw the decision while being in the hands of others.
When asked, "who shall he freedom?"

The innocent one.
Who has done nothing?
Or the criminal?
Who has done more?

The people's decided on the thief.
So has we really changed?
We see the same things happening today.

Through various decades.
So have we really changed?

We could speak volumes about the white juries that let the lynch mobs escape during the fifties and the sixties?
And cries when others seeks retaliation.
What to be expected?

Jesus faced the hands of people stupidity to do right or wrong.
And in similar ways, we are just as stupid than those people was.
So have we really changed?

We see some doesn't get true justice today.