Children are not simply commodities to be herded into line and trained for the jobs that white people who live in segregated neighborhoods have available.
quote by Jonathan Kozol
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fireflies In The Dark
like fireflies in the dark,
those who stand firm are taken,
stamped, and put out...
you silence the human cries
of freedom, ban books,
ideas... ban all thinking.
take anything original
back to the assembly line;
to be remade, reformed....
in the image of mindless
obedience... trained to kill,
trained to follow... trained to hate.
while the lovers of trees, rivers,
and mountains... become
the new faceless minority....
in the land of coal dust excess,
the land of black and white tv.
poverty, disease, and drug abuse
will thin the ranks of the rebellious.
and children without hope
bury their children in dumpsters.
while the angry poets rage
having spent more, done more time...
in your prisons than in college.
and dead mothers walk the streets
crying bitter tears that fall unseen.
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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State Of The Union
President Obama,
your firm resolve
very admirable...
you preach your dream
for America with
light in your eyes...
you drew your line
in the sand...
but we your people
are still hurting...
we cannot feed our children
on dreams alone..
we need the body
to follow the heart.
bringing the soldiers home,
finally, keep them home!
should have been done
long ago!
jobs, jobs, jobs,
we need jobs...
fair pay with benefits.
fair taxation...
and yes, tax the rich!
all Americans, all colors
and creeds, must walk together,
hand in hand, for the future,
ours, and our childrens'.
the hand of the oil companies,
and the big banks,
needs to be removed!
justice the same for all,
both rich and poor
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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When people ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, I can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago. He's the same man who started his career by turning down high paying jobs and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work … because for Barack, success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's lives.
quote by Michelle Obama
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Thr Railroad Tracks
Who lived across the railroad tracks?
A few of us whites, but mostly blacks.
These railroad tracks without even knowing
separated my town and kept it growing
into a segregated place.
I used to listen for the sound of the train.
As it rolled on by, it would never remain.
It just kept rolling to where it was going.
The engineer waved. The smoke kept blowing
into a segregated place.
Even when the trains stopped the rolling
the tracks will still there.They were controlling
the thinking of the people in our town.
So they kept the tracks there, never tore them down
in our segregated place.
Some were on the right side of the tracks, you see.
Some were on the wrong side of the tracks, like me.
They never took the tracks down from 60 years ago.
And the town I grew up in doesn't want to know
it's a segregated place.
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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What's up, the world is changing!
What's up, the world is changing! Coming out from outside, what do I see. The people are sad not happy and losing there jobs. How can they pay there bills and rent, mortgage on there house if they do not have no jobs. The people use to have a smile on there face because they have money to pay there bills and other things that have to be paid to. What's up, the world is changing! Coming out from outside, what do I see. The children use to played outside in front of the doors and the children use to laught at each other by joking. The children use to go to the store by themselves without getting hit by a bullet. The children use to socialize with other children by playing. Now, the children is dieing, crying, and continue to fantasizing. What's up, the world is changing! Coming out from outside, what do I see. The children is looking for love cannot find love from there home so, they are looking for the right one to give them love. The children looking in the wrong places to found love. It will be too late to tell the children that the love isn't out there. The love is inside there hearts and can they flll it?
poem by Shattocha Evans
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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People Don't Care
everyone dies..........eventually.
some people care,
heaven or hell?
most people dont.
some people love there life
but most people don't
most poeple live there boring lives.
then they just...........die.
most people do nothing exciting,
in the pathetic world we live in,
with cubiculs and safe neighborhoods.
most people don't care.
optimistic, aren't we?
poem by Bethany Inthemeantime
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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White Comedy
I waz whitemailed
By a white witch,
Wid white magic
An white lies,
Branded by a white sheep
I slaved as a whitesmith
Near a white spot
Where I suffered whitewater fever.
Whitelisted as a whiteleg
I waz in de white book
As a master of white art,
It waz like white death.
People called me white jack
Some hailed me as a white wog,
So I joined de white watch
Trained as a white guard
Lived off the white economy.
Caught and beaten by de whiteshirts
I waz condemned to a white mass,
Don't worry,
I shall be writing to de Black House.
poem by Benjamin Zephaniah
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Thoughts And Keys (Continued)
bottom line...
life is a gift.
what authenticates the gift
is the giving!
love is a trail of tiny sacrifices
made over small fires at night
to an unseen god.
the word 'god' is a failure,
much less the concept.
we try to define the ocean,
and cant contain the wave!
prejudice, our greatest weakness,
comes from the fear of seeing
the sameness in all the colors
of the rainbow.
the Freedom Riders took on
the segregated south in the sixties...
we need freedom riders now,
unafraid of beatings,
unafraid of prison,
committed at all costs.
for we face a deeper segregation now,
nationwide... the elite
segregated from the rest of us...
the many segregated from the few.
the gulf of hatred and abuse is wide...
this is what makes the Occupy Movement
so important!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sixteen
Youve been a juvenile
With a dolphin smile
With no elbow room
Youve had in your little backyard
Portected by big walls
You didnt dare look over
cause youve been too small
Now youre finally sixteen
And youre feelin old
But they wont believe
That you got a soul
cause youre only sixteen
And youre feeling real
But you cant seem to cup a feel
Why do they have to force us
Through this metamorphose
Little butterfly
No matter how you try
Youll be segregated
Youre gonna be closed off
Youre callow and youre green
cause youre caught between
Youre only sixteen
Try to cross the line
But your little wings are interwined
Youre only sixteen
And youre such a tease
And theres nothing you can do
That can really please
These children
Theyre not really bad most of them
Theyre just products
Of rotten neighborhoods
And bad family situations
You know you cant forsake it
So sit back and take it
You see youre just not ripe
So dont try and fight that
Youre only sixteen
You wanna catch a peek
But they look at you
Like youre such a freak
Well youre only sixteen
With a lot to say
But they wont give you
The time of day
Youre only sixteen!
Youre only sixteen!!
Youre just sixteen!!!
You poor little thing
song performed by by Gwen Stefani
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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End Of The World....
i'm not concerned about the end of the world...
for me the world ends every day that we're
still fighting wars, that children around the world
go to bed hungry, that families are left homeless,
that men and women cant find jobs, that people
are denied justice and equality, that children cant
afford to go to school, that old people cant get
medical care, enough to eat, or a place to live...
that lonely people cant find love.... and that nobody
seems to give a damn!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Back To Greed
What's the problem?
Why is there a commotion in the streets?
We have created millions of jobs.
And half of the people weren't qualified,
To fulfill the positions.
And yet they have their jobs!
And people are working.
What's going on?
What is the protesting about?
'Well...
The people are disgruntled,
Because...
Well,
The have an issue with 'pay'! '
What issue?
'They want to get 'paid'.
They want pay for what they do.'
You can't satisfy these people!
First it was jobs.
That's all they screamed about.
Well,
They've got their jobs.
Now you say they want pay?
'Yes.'
What next will they be demanding?
FOOD?
Then what?
SHELTER?
What kind of operation they think we run here?
A 'social service agency'?
You tell them to go back to work.
Because they certainly will 'not' be going back to greed.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fleetwood
We were once a thriving town
envied by ports from miles around
plenty of fish and jobs for all
and then the pride before the fall
the fish are gone, the jobs are few
the town no longer what we knew
yobs with drugs, no jobs or hope
just endless puffing on their dope
older people afraid to pass by
who saw the good times and wonder why
i hope my children fly this town
and find somewhere nice to settle down
a place where maybe dreams come true
with jobs, and hope and a future too.
poem by Michelle Garner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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New Frontier
Come on children mind the gap
American people with marvelous hair
And a knack to do anything better than anyone
I got a home with electrical air
And I live in a world
Smaller than anyone
I got a line on a new frontier
I got a line on a new America
All of the people are vanishing here
I could be huge
song performed by by Counting Crows from Hard Candy
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States. And when we call for education we mean real education. We believe in work. We ourselves are workers, but work is not necessarily education. Education is the development of power and ideal. We want our children trained as intelligent human beings should be, and we will fight for all time against any proposal to educate black boys and girls simply as servants and underlings, or simply for the use of other people. They have a right to know, to think, to aspire.
quote by W.E.B. Du Bois
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Today, there are also buyers and sellers of all these energy commodities, just like there are buyers and sellers of food commodities and many other commodities.
quote by Kenneth Lay
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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There are now hundreds of thousands of new engineers that are being trained in China. If people start finding themselves losing their jobs, not to the Chinese here but because China has become such a dominant force - then there could very well be a backlash.
quote by Iris Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Noticeable Nose Dive
Why is it that the education of all children,
Has taken a noticeable nose dive?
To leave them unable to compete,
On any level of achievement.
'Why is it that people decide to move away,
From those moving into their neighborhoods? '
To take with them what is believed others wish,
From them to get.
People like to feel comfortable.
With those they believe have similar interests.
'And what do you think that would be?
Their monopoly kept on intelligence? '
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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You can no longer buy commodities at Merrill Lynch. My guess is many analysts and even executives are too young to know how profitable a hot commodities market can be. They will soon.
quote by Jim Rogers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is therefore utterly false to say that Marx revokes the law of value as far as individual commodities are concerned, and maintains it in force solely for the aggregate of these commodities.
quote by Rudolf Hiferding
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The segregated schools of today are arguably no more equal than the segregated schools of the past.