Old Joe
(in whispers)
Even Jesus give Old Joe a pass to the Pearlie Gates
Den, why dey string him up?
Dey needed a n***** satisfy somebody
But Old Joe?
He a n***** aint he?
Why somebody need to be satisfy?
Hear Boss wanted some buck breakin
Mistake an broke dat boy neck
Hear Missus got wind
She like dat boy for herself
I’d seen dat, Sho nuff
She neva like da way Old Joe smooth things
She say, “N***** Please” when he start up
Boss took to satisfy hisself and Missus by hangin’ Old Joe
Jesus, lawd of mercy
BACK TO WORK N*****
Mrs. Rosenthal
“We need to teach the entire spectrum of Black history, not facially connected highs and lows. We must teach and learn how to deal with pain and how to develop paths to progress.” – CZV
I giggled with some of the other 6th-grade boys when red-headed and nailed Mrs. Rosenthal pledged, hand on her collarbone. She couldn’t place it over her heart without cupped distortion. Mr. Webber, memorizing faces, quickly quieted us down. The consequence would be whacks with a ruler and a call to our mothers otherwise. Our class was special today. We were performing a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. I would recite an excerpt from his I Have a Dream Speech at the podium. My mother didn’t come. She never did. Who knew MLK would be murdered two years later.
Tightrope: pictured-Ruby Bridges protected by Federal Agents spent her first year in an integrated school in a class by herself taught by a new teacher because everyone else in the school refused.
Fried Chicken & Philosophy 