by Ernie McCray
A Message for Some Young Brothers Who Have Got Some Serious Thinking to Do
I’d like to say this to you
young brothers
who’re backing Donald J. Trump:
you’ve got some serious thinking to do,
especially about that point-of-view
you have that we African Americans
have nothing to gain
through politics.
Because, to tell you the truth,
if it wasn’t for the ballot box
in voting booths,
we wouldn’t have had a chance
to grab ahold of anything
in this country
anywhere near our due,
as this society has never ever,
even for a moment in time,
given us a single thing
that we didn’t fight for mightily,
and the struggle goes on
and we don’t need you out here
standing behind a man
who has lost his mind,
a man who has never
cared about us
at any time,
a man who would
just as soon have us,
in a sense,
riding, once again, at the back of the bus.
Hey,
the law had to make him
rent to us.
He owned casinos
that weren’t the least bit
welcoming to us.
He’s a disgusting cuss
who uses terms like
animalistic and lazy
to describe us.
He cuddles up
to White supremacists
who are threatening to us.
He whined and moaned
and made a big fuss
when the first one of us
sought the presidency,
claiming that he wasn’t
born in the country,
that, in that respect,
he wasn’t one of us…
And, there’s nobody
he’s been more hateful towards
or hostile to
than the younger ones among us,
as, back in the late 80’s
there were some teenagers who
were accused
of attacking and raping a jogger
in New York,
in Central Park,
something they didn’t do,
and your boy
took out ads in Big Apple dailies
demanding that the death penalty
be reinstated
so these young soul brothers
could either
fry in an electric chair
or get shot up with a lethal injection.
And you want to help this man
win an election?
If you really do,
you truly do
have some serious thinking to do
because your people
and all of humanity
need you
to play an active role
in not letting him become president –
ever again.
Think of it as keeping alive
the fighting spirit
our ancestors
set in motion
from the moment
they landed on these shores,
launching the first steps
in the direction of our desire to live free.
So, get it together
my young brothers
as the victory hasn’t
been won.
You’re the generation
in our journey
that’s been called on to
save a democracy
so we and everybody else can
keep on keeping on
and pass the baton on
to future generations
in their quest for a better country,
a better world.
And the sooner you get started the better.
***
I Want a President to Exemplify Human Decency for My Progeny
I was looking
at a picture of my grandson, Lyric,
taken a few years ago,
and I began wondering
how anybody
who had someone in their life
who is as innocent and precious
as he is,
could ever even think, for a moment,
about voting for someone like Donald J, Trump,
because what I want for him
is a president
who is
truthful and honest,
because Lyric has been taught
not to lie and cheat,
a president who doesn’t
point fingers at others as the blame
for his wrongs
because Lyric is expected
to own up to his misdeeds,
a president who would never
mock and disparage
or lord it over their fellow human beings
or show any animosity
towards people
of other races
or ethnicities,
because in our family
the word is
one shouldn’t make fun of people
and rather than look down your nose
at someone,
as though they’re beneath you,
treat everybody
the way
you want others
to behave towards you.
It’s all about being nice
because as an old adage says:
“Kindness is the language
which the deaf can hear
and the blind can see.”
So, I simply want a president for Lyric
and his generation
who exemplifies love and human decency.
And it’s obvious
who that is
in this race for the
country’s presidency:
Kamala Harris.
Yes, indeed!
