(CLICK HERE to watch the video for this poem)
It’s not about going where it’s safe… but where you’re needed.

Safe

Cops stay away – fearing for their lives
While families in urban cities face anxiety everyday…
Call for help and you’ll realize
Response time is like the government’s to Katrina…
While bullets fly in rapid succession
No chance for reflection as select corner blocks are ruled by thugs and drug lords
It’s Hell on earth for some.
In a System that devalues a family’s worth.

Come 96th street separation begins…
Segregation exists – you see it on subway trains
And in neighborhood schools where Color rules the terrain
Caucasian students are the minority.
The worst schools in the nation are a majority in ghetto plantations
Kids stand for hours to get through metal confiscation
Like at the school, in the news, where students protested and said:
We’re kids – not convicts!

But it’s hard to learn when you’re surrounded on every side
Trying to stay alive while educational funding is stripped away –
Leaving guidance counselors and teachers overwhelmed
And students without textbooks – focused on standardized tests
And when we see our kids – walking with their swagger
Quoting their favorite rapper - Spouting lyrics often misogynistic and dark -
How can we blame them – when we refuse to go where they need us?

Don’t misunderstand me – blame is firmly planted on both sides at times
But who determines what’s safe? And why don’t we all qualify?
Every time I try – we try to play it safe and save our own lives
They lose – we lose - I lose…
An entire generation…

Is this the way it’s supposed to be?
By who’s standards do you see?

Is it God’s!
Because He clearly told Ezekiel to speak to the lost.
And if they refused to listen and died in their sins
Their blood would be required of them.

But if he refused to speak due to his preconceived heart condition
And they died in their sins without ever getting a chance to listen - to the truth
A chance to be transformed - then their blood God would require on Ezekiel’s form.
This is where we are – being told to proclaim but not speaking – only tweaking fears and lies to fill the Glass of our lives which is continually leaking.
The blood of others required on our hands…
While we keep where it’s safe –
behind our gated communities and dollar-dollar bills
Focused on selfish ambition instead of healing society’s ills - Capitalism

I mean - We got great kids with great dreams and even greater fears and struggles
Mothers and grandmothers desperately working to raise children they use to cuddle
In a world full of distraction where sons and fathers face increasing inaction to discover their identity In a society that diminishes the male who’s Color labels them as minority puddles of mud.
Somehow we’ve forgotten that we’ve all been lost before…

Restricted kinetic energy…
Kids emulate what they can see
And Teens become disillusioned by adult hypocrisy
Wake up and look in the mirror – those of us who claim we can see!

Human Beings poverty stricken, may not be weak in heart and mind
And if we took the time we’d discover that our greatest enemy
Is not each other but the prejudice that lives inside.
The color of our skin does not make us deprived – We are all unique
In our hearts where many gifts and talents reside.

But the System is corrupted and at some level poorly constructed - not meant to work for everyone.
And with each rising sun - we lose more individual minds to the teeth of the grinding machine…
We need to come clean - And start praying for every family’s dream
Then ask what we can do and get to work to change the scene.
Because it’s not about being where it’s safe… but where we’re needed.
And if we refuse – everyone’s life will be depleted.

From the book: Transition: Breaking Through the Barriers, Pg. 213
Written by Allen Paul Weaver III
Published by: IUniverse June 2006