Kids Who Die
This is for the kids who die,
Black and white,
For kids will die certainly.
The old and rich will live on awhile,
As always,
Eating blood and gold,
Letting kids die.
Kids will die in the swamps of Mississippi
Organizing sharecroppers
Kids will die in the streets of Chicago
Organizing workers
Kids will die in the orange groves of California
Telling others to get together
Whites and Filipinos,
Negroes and Mexicans,
All kinds of kids will die
Who don’t believe in lies, and bribes, and contentment
And a lousy peace.
Of course, the wise and the learned
Who pen editorials in the papers,
And the gentlemen with Dr. in front of their names
White and black,
Who make surveys and write books
Will live on weaving words to smother the kids who die,
And the sleazy courts,
And the bribe-reaching police,
And the blood-loving generals,
And the money-loving preachers
Will all raise their hands against the kids who die,
Beating them with laws and clubs and bayonets and bullets
To frighten the people—
For the kids who die are like iron in the blood of the people—
And the old and rich don’t want the people
To taste the iron of the kids who die,
Don’t want the people to get wise to their own power,
To believe an Angelo Herndon, or even get together
Listen, kids who die—
Maybe, now, there will be no monument for you
Except in our hearts
Maybe your bodies’ll be lost in a swamp
Or a prison grave, or the potter’s field,
Or the rivers where you’re drowned like Leibknecht
But the day will come—
You are sure yourselves that it is coming—
When the marching feet of the masses
Will raise for you a living monument of love,
And joy, and laughter,
And black hands and white hands clasped as one,
And a song that reaches the sky—
The song of the life triumphant
Through the kids who die.
(Langston Hughes, 1938)
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18 comments:
This is a mid-90s level ugly basketball game.
These last two shootings in Buffalo and Texas have shook me more than they typically do. Maybe it's because I have a struggling 18 year old in my house.
I appreciate Beto interrupting the texas leaders' "thoughts and prayers dog and pony show", and could care less if the people he interrupted think he's an asshole.
I agree, Rootsy. Certainly anything in an elementary school feels like pure evil incarnate.
It might also be that the frequency of these events has accelerated to a real routine. And it feels like we're simply going to have to live like this indefinitely. Like those in middle east spots painfully resigned to suicide bombings being part of the deal. Except this is America, where we're pretty sure we shouldn't have to.
Pretty fucking awful.
And life is pretty fucked up when you read headlines like this one...
Nancy Brophy, romance novelist who wrote "How to Murder Your Husband," found guilty of murdering her husband
It's so absurd. Since Sandy Hook, when we did nothing, when nothing changed after that, I believed and continue to believe we are lost. The fact that the deaths of 21 children and 6 adults in an elementary school then, and those kids being 6-7 years of age, could not engender our politicians to act, nor could it/did it change us as those who elect them to elect others...and the root of it all is the money - it's all about that. The gun lobby (and other lobbies) are what own our leaders. It is that simple. And unless the leaders in place vote to change that, things won't change. I was no big fan of John McCain, but this was something he understood. Campaign-finance reform is where we have to start. But they won't. And without that and with the courts supporting corporations' right to fund candidates and therefore, elections, we're done. We are indeed lost as a nation. I thought the tragedy of Sandy Hook would turn things. When it didn't, short of every kid in America refusing to attend school/every teacher refusing to teach/every administrator refusing to open schools until something happens, on it shall go.
I say to folks hug your loved ones because wherever you go, nowhere in America is safe. We are a tragic, hypocritical, embarrassment of a nation.
Preach, Donna.
Hughes poem holds up remarkably well. And Rob, I cannot imagine what your wife and fellow teachers live with in the back of, and front of, their minds every damn day. More guns in schools? Arm teachers? Increasing number of school boards and parents think teachers should defer to them for lesson plans and curricula, yet they're OK with teachers packing? Puhleeze.
On a lighter note, I'm not an extensive Luka Doncic watcher, but the critique I've heard from a couple directions that he doesn't do enough to make his teammates better sounds appallingly ignorant from those who supposedly know hoops. As I think Redick pointed out, he's playing with a lot of journeymen and undrafted guys who don't see or space the game the way he does. Doncic does indeed find guys. Up to them to finish. If Mavs had a couple more elite shooters and finishers, Doncic's scoring might go down a bit, but I believe he'd be that much more effective. Interested in Mark's thoughts on this.
Well put, D. Sad to say.
And RIP Ray Liotta. I liked that guy’s work.
The widowed husband of one of the teachers who was slain in TX has died of a heart attack. There is sadness, and then there is something that appears to be someone dying of a broken heart, and that is just crushing.
I've never been so happy for it to be my kid's last day of school as I am today.
In lighter thoughts- You're spot on Dave. That Dallas was even capable of competing with, much less beating Phoenix is a testament to his greatness. Can the offense get a little heliocentric at times? Sure. But this isn't a Houston/James Harden situation where he's dribbling for 18-20 seconds while his teammates stand around at watch him. Doncic does a great job of finding shooter and, as you said, it's up to them to make them. They did against Phoenix. They haven't in this series. In fact, the shot quality rating for Dallas is better than Golden State this series.
The next step is for Luka to do more off the ball. His gravity will create opportunities for other to create. Right now, it's just Brunson and Dinwiddie who are capable of doing that and neither is elite. If Luka can do his part and Brunson continues to improve or Dallas adds another elite playmaker then that's when they'll go to the next level.
heliocentric!
Oh! Fuggin Copernicus ovah heyuh wit da heliocentric call!
Mark is the Zach Lowe of GTB
Took in some daytime minor league baseball today. A true pleasure.
z...
My dad's buddy has an Isetta on display in his showroom. Zman would look good in this one.
on a lighter school related note, i thought my high school tennis match yesterday was headed to the supreme court . . .
https://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2022/05/i-dont-serve-on-shomer-shabbos.html
Somebody post something
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