Hard Getting Over ICE Shenanigans in My Old Neighborhood

by Ernie McCray

That shit ICE pulled in my old neighborhood
still sits with me,
all that rushing into town,
spraying gasses
and snatching people around,
ridiculously and literally laying siege on
a community,
fueled by a sick man’s
hatefulness and insanity.

And I can’t help but take it personally
because I spent 30 of the most wonderful years of my life
on the very block
this incredibly wicked abuse
took place –
a neighborhood as good as any to be found
any place.

So much of my human history is tied
to the particular corner
where the menacing
went down
as I’ve probably said Hello to folks
from that curb
more than I’ve greeted anyone anywhere
on earth,
a corner
on which
I’ve done yoga for old folks with bad backs
and a corner where I’ve enjoyed
drinking coffee and talking
about what’s going down
with a range of friends,
laborers, musicians, actors,
activists, artists, educators,
politicians…

On that corner I once hugged Angela Davis
and told her how much she meant to me,
and she treated me with a smile
that stands tall in my list of memories,
and I remember standing on that corner,
a few times,
waving “Hi”
as Archie Moore,
the boxing great,
drove by…

On that corner
my beautiful wife
prepared a living space for feral cats
and it was there my children
learned how to ride bikes
and how to safely cross the street.

And who knows how many times
I’ve crossed the street at that corner
on my way to a friend’s house
who threw Halloween Parties
to beat all such celebratory gatherings,
on my way to do poetry
or just rap
with kids at the school
on the next block,
on my way
to spend an evening
with Cesar Chavez
and Dolores Huerta
at the house
of two beautiful people
who were key participants
in the Farmworkers movement,
or to a number of homes
where some political organizing
was going on.

How bad is it
when a neighborhood
that, if anything,
should be praised
for modeling
how an American neighborhood should be,
instead, is subjected to a maniacal raid
initiated by a Fuhrer
far away in Washington D.C.

Oh, it’s going to take me a while
to get past
the war against humanity
that occurred
in a neighborhood
that means the world to me.

But I’ll settle down
and continue fighting the good fight.

With all my might.