Minding Their Business

Police cars speeding down side streets

Shhhhhhh!!!

Playing the lullaby, that is all too familiar for the little girl

Pop! Pop, pop, pop, pop!

Shhhhhhh!!!

Go the neighbors from inside their homes

Listening to the silent cries of a young man,

 Who has fallen victim to the streets once again

How long will it be, before we are tired?

Tired of letting police sirens act as the lullaby for our children

And how many children and teens do we have to see

 Before we get up and stop minding our business

You see, I thought I was numb to the deaths

 Of so many teens that were stabbed or shot up

That I saw on TV

And numb to the fact that the police of course have no leads.

Because people like YOU

 Wanted to mind their own business

Because they didn’t want to be listed a as a witness

Who would be subpoenaed to court

To face the one that they are accusing

Because if they did

 Then their lives would be in danger

But the lives I see ENDANGERED

Are the lives of the youth

Who continue to be buried 6 ft. under

Before they even reach the age of 25 which in their eyes

 Is already a lifetime

But you see,

 I have faith that one day that age will change

And people will stop minding their business

Because they will realize the affect that is upon us

That by letting him go free

Without putting him where he belongs

Will let the death rate of teens to continue on

Letting the statistics rise and hardly fall

As each of us continues to move on

Knowing that we will never get a second chance

In saying good bye.

Which makes me want to cry

At this harsh reality

Because on January 5, 2009,

For the first time in my life,

I was told that one of my friends had died.

Two days before New Year’s Eve

From being the victim of a couple of bullets

He was rushed to B.M.C.

Where I do believe that the Almighty,

Took him from ME and his family

I couldn’t believe it

I was in shock at how it affected me

I thought that he wall

Of numb feeling would protect me

But as you can see

From the waters glistening in my eyes

Tears building up ready to flow if they haven’t already,

That numb wall could no longer protect me.

So I ask you all to stop taking the oaths of the streets:

I don’t see nothing, I don’t hear nothing, I don’t know nothing.

Because those are all double negatives meaning you did see something,

You did hear something and you definitely know something.

 So speak up and say something.

 And most importantly Stop Minding Your Business!

(Dedicated in memory of Jermaine Perry)