The talk

Grade school is a magical time for kids.

They are taught the early year basics.(reading,writing,and Arithmetic)They also are usually taught proper etiquette, getting along with others and sharing.

Career day was probably the most fun and meaningful time in elementary.

On career day you were taught that you could be anything want to be when you grow up.

All the speakers that participated in career day played an important role in their young lives. The youth were getting a glimpse into the future.

All the speaks hailed from respectable professions in the community.

The banker.

The Doctor.

The lawyer.

The Judge.

The farmer.

The police officer.

Out off the visitors to speak, the police officer usually left the most lasting impression.

They would give out coloring books, whistles,and other fun games.

The message that they were trying to send us was clear.

Don't be afraid of us.

We are nice.

Trust us.

Call us.

We are here to help.

Yeahuup....magical times back then.

Then I got a little older.

Shot up a few inches.

My voice got deeper.

Even grew some peach fuzz on my face.

It was time for the "talk".

You know the "talk"

Not the birds and the bees.

"The talk"

The talk that has existed long before I was born./

The talk to help protect the first black male born./

You know.

"The talk"

Don't tell me you've never heard of it....

Fathers,Grandfather's, uncles, brothers,and guardians pass it down like their handing off a baton in a relay race./

You'd always know how serious it was by the look on their face./

In case your still on the dark;the talk I'm speaking of is what to do when you get stopped by the police.

My father was incarcerated so he couldn't tell me when I came of age./

My older brothers were still practicing the routine so they didn't quiet know what to say.

My mother.(a woman) taught me a lesson that still holds true till this very day./

She grabbed my cheeks and said son please listen very carefully you need hear this.

You intimidate them. 

They fear you.

So when your out with your friends or coming home alone and they stop you here's what you do./

Don't slouch.

 Sit up straight.

Give them eye contact but do not stare at them directly in their face.

Remain perfectly still...resist the urge to pace.

Keep your hands out of pockets./

No matter how loud they yell at you always respond to their commands by calling them sir.

Sad but true.

"The talk " has become a skewed right of passage for many of us.

Yet we are still suppose to obey and trust an organization that

slaughters us all in the name of the brotherhood of the blue.

You know the strange thing though?

I bet at one point in time even black officers had "the talk" too.

I'm not saying all cops are racist, corrupt, or bad.

All I'm saying is this.

It's 2016 and the talk still exist.

THE POETRY CORNER: POETRY WITH A PASSION .POETRY FOR ALL OCASSIONS.

HLH. CR 4/09/16