Chapter Four
Date: June 22, 2013
“This is Cameron Anderson with CNN News-”
“FUCK THE POLICE AND FUCK THE ARMY!!”
A young man shouted into the cameras. Anderson quickens his
pace. He stands in front of an abandoned building. It’s a little less quiet in
that location. Most of the noise is located one hundred yards away; where the
police have formed a horizontal line, and the residents are clumped together
shouting obscenities.
Marie Ville looks post-apocalyptic. The store windows are
shattered, the streets are filled with homemade weapons; bottles used as
grenades, broken baseball bats, and knives colored crimson red are some of the
items found on the ground.
And yet they continue.
“This is Cameron Anderson with CNN News. It appears there is
a standoff happening with the authorities and the residents of Marie Ville. The
police have encouraged the residents to stand down, and have refrained from
using excessive force. The residents are aggressive. They have unheeded the
army’s plea for peace and have instead taken to the streets to cause further
destruction-”
Rachel turned off
the television. She had heard enough. She knew that the media was no more than
a political ploy serving the interests of the privileged. She walked to the
window and stared at the graffiti on the building across from the retirement
home… “Fuck the police” …
She imagined a time when those words were barely whispered.
A time when it was difficult to take a stand because you were afraid your legs
would be broken. She imagined a time when there were very little opportunities,
and the glass ceiling was made of cement. Success at that time was not even
imagined. It was a time when you knew that you’d only go as far as they allowed
you to; you were on a leash. You could become a maid… a nurse… or a teacher.
Now they have so much opportunity.
Or at least that’s what they have them believe. They too are
constrained by various social structures. A failing school system, a sighted
justice system that seems to watch them vigilantly, and they were condemned to
continue what seems to be an unbreakable cycle of poverty as soon as they were
born. This young generation is bound for self-destruction, and it is up to them
to make the change.
But it’s nice to see them fight tonight. It’s nice to see
them stand for something. They are the new Freedom Riders. Hopefully they can
push through the materialism in society that masks their oppression. Hopefully
they can see that having an education is more important than having the new
pairs of Jordans. I hope they strive for the office, rather than the spotlight
of the basketball court or glimmer of the hip hop industry. It is nice to see
them fight.
Tomorrow is the first march. Hundreds of students have
refused to go to school, and generous teachers are excusing the absence,
because they will also be there.
“I hope this is the first step”, thought Rachel. “It seems
people don’t know how trapped they are until they’ve physically see an
injustice occur… but all the while they constantly suffer under invisible
oppression…”
“Tomorrow I will join them”, she says after a long pause.
Her mind constantly wanders, she jokes that it’s due to her old age, but she’s been
that way her entire life. Always thinking.
“Malvin will be leading the march tomorrow. It will give the
young generation someone positive to look up to. The biggest problem with the
young children is that they are led by children. They lose their father and
look towards a gang full of boys for family, and male leadership. The boys in
the gangs have experienced the same thing, they can bond, but none can lead.
Even the O.G.’s are boys themselves, never getting over the fact that their
father left them, and never fully understanding that a life on the streets is
no life at all. And for the boys who are not in gangs, who are they to look to?
The rappers, basketball players, and celebrities on T.V… Never realizing how
slim their chances are… Never realizing that a superficial life, one with money
and fame, is not worth anything. You cannot only live with money, nor can the
glamour of the crazed paparazzi keep you afloat… Hopefully, Malvin shows them
how to live with one another. Hopefully, he can bring them steps closer to
being fully human… Being fully aware, intelligent, responsive, vocal,
compassionate, moral, intuitive, and courageous. I hope to see the day when we
can all be human…
–
“Miss Powers, dinners ready!” Shouts the nurse
from the other room.
“I’ll be there in a second”, Rachel responded.
“I should get something to eat and head to bed soon. The
news will only depress me and cause me to think. And I already think far too
much…”
End.
- K.S. Fort
From, "The Civilized N -"
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