Long Douglass Poems
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ONGOING ELEGY
The words you’re about to read are part of an ongoing elegy that began in 1999
after 12 students and one teacher were killed in the halls of Columbine.
We immediately looked to our leaders for a beacon of hope…a sign…
that they would try to keep us safe…after Columbine
We hoped they would do something….perhaps put a law upon the books…
We knew they wouldn’t let this continue…
then came Sandy Hook.
And again we looked to our leaders…
they wouldn’t sit back and watch more people die…
Surely this time they would do something…
then came Parkland and Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High…
They should have offered us more than their prayers and hopes and thoughts…
but after Columbine,
after Sandy Hook…
after Parkland…
they did not
And so we add more names to this elegy…after another senseless shooting spree…
more children and adults gunned down…in a school in Tennessee
We like to think we are not a heartless people …although we often act as if we are
but at what point do we as a nation say…this has gone too far?
Yes, we thought they’d come up with a policy, a strategy…some kind of design…
but here we are still waiting…24 years after Columbine.
24 years still waiting for our leaders to address a problem
whose solutions are plain to see….
for until they do,
with sorrow in my heart,
I’ll keep adding to this elegy.
I was a picked on,
bullied, browbeaten, buffaloed boy
from Buffalo New York.
I grew up on Buffalo’s lower east side,
the ghetto by another name.
The Frederick Douglass towers.
Formerly the Talbert Mall
better known as the Jefferson projects.
The home turf to a gang
called the Pythons.
It was a place
where angels fear to tread.
I had so many bullies
it’s a wonder I didn't end up dead.
I had more bullies
than the law allowed.
I survived my childhood somehow.
I can count one hand
how many times
I was saved by gang members. (5)
I join a bigger gang
right after high school.
The United States Army,
and saw the world,
Germany, Turkey and Italy.
I met the man who would be
my Kung-Fu master,
three years later he had made me
a very dangerous man.
Back stateside I became
DJ Bobby K “The One to Know”
For a little over fourteen years,
I played the music
that made the difference.
All the while I heard the voices.
In the year 2,000
I took a course
in creative writing,
and Bobby K
“The Poor Man's Poet was born.”
Now when I go out to speak,
I mean to be heard,
giving voice to the spoken word.
Land of the free
Home of the slaves
The blood, sweat and tears of my ancestors resonate
Amongst the soil where they were slain
I’m hearing their struggle
I’m feeling their pain
I can’t imagine being forced to part from my family
All for massa’s gain
So I pay homage to those who promoted change
People like every slave who tried to escape
Nat Turner, Ms Carlotta, Harriet Tubman
And the safe houses who were in accord
And peg leg Joe with his song
Follow the drinking gourd.
People like, the disregarded - those thrown overboard
And who was dismissed and defamed
The ones who were stripped of their soul, their pride, their names
The list could go on
The full will never be told
So I pay homage to others who were bold
Like John Brown, The Freedom Riders, Sojourner Truth
Ida B Wells, Phyllis Wheatley, Maya Angelou,
Langston Hughes and Charles Drew
George Washington Carver, Ruby Bridges
Booker T Washington and Mary McCleod Bethune
Charles Houston, Ralph Bunche, Fredrick Douglass
WEB Dubois, Paul Robeson, Ralph Abernathy
Benjamin Banneker, Marcus Garvey and Crispus Attucks
Who’s death by the way
Symbolized the American lie
You cant declare the rights of all men
While the people of African decent rights get denied
But still we rise
Thanks to Dr Martin Luther King, Malcolm X,
The Black Panthers, the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen
None who were showed any love
Yeah it’s an uphill battle,
But obviously greatness can be done.
We can rise above this stigma
That blacks are lazy and daunting
That our worth is null and void
And in essence minus nothing
And of all the names mentioned
And the greatness of their successes
No one has been able to erase the evil transgressions of a racist mind
And once you have experienced just a taste of it
It changes your perception of time
The oppression beats like the drum on the chariot
Of when it was finally time to escape to freedom
It's mine
Black History Month began as "***** History Week"
Our holiday was adopted at a time when the country was bleak
Created in 1926 by noted African American Historian, Carter G. Woodson
Today, we celebrate the "Congressional Gold Medal" of Eugene Goodman
It became a month-long celebration in February 1976
To celebrate the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
Black History Month honors the contributions of African Americans
The historical contributions of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris
They deserve recognition because of their contributory impact on the nation
Another Black History Month contribution by Frank Wills from Watergate
The Security Guard was forever ostracized, because he didn't hesitate
It's time to speak the unvarnished truth,
and to do so as often and loudly as we can
I recall the fear and prejudice that were expressed by many
How do we confront this virus of injustice?
We must speak truth to power.
The burden of confronting injustice and racism
Must not be viewed through rose colored negativism
Hold accountable those who prey on black people's fears
And biases with lies, conspiracies, and tears
We must speak out forcefully and act with conviction
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality
Tied in a single garment of destiny
Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Author: Floyd Neal
Date: February 13, 2021
Inspiration: Black History Month
It was 20 years ago…the year was 1999
and we thought the world would change….after Columbine
We hoped something would be done
after children were gunned down with their books
We thought the world would change…
and then came Sandy Hook
And we hoped something would be done
we can’t sit back and watch our children die…
and we thought the world would change
then came Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High…
But nothing has been done…
Today these mass murders persist
as we sadly add El Paso and Dayton to the list.
We should have learned our lesson
that was in that first mass shooting taught…
but after Columbine,
after Sandy Hook…
after Parkland…
we did not.
We like to think we are not a heartless people
although we act just like we are.
At what point do we as a nation say
this has gone too far?
So once again I pray we find a solution…?once again I pray we’re ready draw the line…
so we don’t have to wait another 20 years
after Columbine.
He understood what I now know
But did not at first
For I had not seen broken children before
Now that I have I understand
They can be tainted and tortured
into submission before they reach school
“It is easier to build strong children
than to repair broken men”
words penned by Frederick Douglass
Wisdom personified
Once broken it is like rebuilding
and rebuilding and rebuilding
After a child has lost hope
lost trust, lost believing in himself
he filters out the good, hearing only the bad
If we do not reach them
before the good has been
crucified and whipped out of them
We may never reach them at all
The key is to reach the parents
And teach them how to love their children
The belt is never the answer
Once you have had the belt
You are always broken
Take it from one who knows
From
Experience…..