Are YOU Asking The Right Questions?

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"Are We Asking the Right Questions?" by Leon Neyfakh

 

 

Poetry Analysis: "Stop the Violence" by Diva Hunter-Payne

STOP THE VIOLENCE

By Diva Hunter-Payne (17 years old), Massachusetts
Originally written for and performed at Teen Voices’ Poetically Speaking 2011 event.



Art by Chantal Feitosa (15 years old), New York



I look around and what do I see?
I see our young people killing one another out on the streets
We’re forgetting our black leaders fought for us to have peace.

Segregation, disjunction, manipulation, AND MORE AND MORE DEVASTATION!
No wonder why our kids are losing motivation.

Tell me what is this world coming to? Am I just being wise or am I being a fool?
Come on ya’ll, speak to me because I’m speaking to you! I really want this dream to come true.

When is this violence gonna end?
But if truth be told, we don’t even know where to begin.
True, we have all these “STOP THE VIOLENCE EVENTS”
But are we just doing this for pretend?
Because at the end
People leave out the same way they came in.

Listen fathers, to your children’s frustration
I’m using this poem as a form of communication
Less violence if family show kids more LOVE and dedication
NO MORE VIOLENCE and less altercations
I don’t believe in any violent inhabitations
I trust God to fix any situation

It’s clear someone new is dying from violence every single day
But when are we gonna take a stand AS A PEOPLE and say “Na, this is not okay.”

Kids turning to gangbanging
They don’t got no mother or father figure
Is that their excuse to press a TRIGGER?
Males putting their hands on females and treating them as toys…
No wonder why you got girls trying to be boys.
Mothers and fathers fighting in front of their children –
Is that why we have unnecessary killing?
I believe that us as blacks
When we were being attacked
It was THEN, we had one another’s back!
What happened to FIGHT THE POWER?
LOVE and embrace each and every hour!
Bring back PEACE in our streets!!!
Bring back UNITY in our community!!!
Stop hating one another
Hey, we’re supposed to be sisters and brothers!

Damn!!
I HATE this violence!
Damn!!

Listen killer
I’m talking to you killer
Who are you to take someone else’s life?
But it’s not me it’s YOU who is going to be paying the price
The messed up things that you’re doing is not cool or alright
Do you think about the life you took?
ANSWER ME, you messed up crook
Do you think about the family your victim is leaving behind?
Come on killer I want to know what’s in YOUR mind
Our kids are dying before their time
If you ask me that is a HUGE crime

So when you ask me to look around and what do I see
I see nothing but violence out on the streets
But check it – I don’t get mad though.
Cuz at the end of the day, there’s still HOPE.

Poetry: “Stop the Violence”

BE LIKE PRE!

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." -Steve Prefontaine

 Pre held eight collegiate records and his three-mile and six mile records are still standing today. His death shocked the running community world wide.

 Steve Prefontaine is arguably the greatest American distance runner in history. "Pre" was unstoppable on the track and at the height of his career, he held every American track and field record from the 2,000 to the 10,000 meters.


 Pre was born is Coos Bay, Oregon. His running career began at Marshfield High School where he was undefeated in cross-country and in track his junior and senior years. As a senior, he broke the American record for the two mile run. His outstanding performance attracted the attention of Bill Bowerman, legendary track coach at the University of Oregon and co-founder of Nike, Inc.


 Pre entered the University of Oregon in 1969. He became famous for winning races, setting and resetting his own records and filling the University of Oregon's Hayward Field to capacity with fans that would erupt into cheering at the mere site of him. At the end of his four years at the University of Oregon, Pre racked up seven NCAA titles: three in cross-country, '70, '71, '73; and four in the three-mile in track, '70, '71, '72 and '73. Pre was the first athlete to win four consecutive NCAA track titles in the same event. He held eight collegiate records and his three-mile and six-mile records are still standing today. During his career he broke his own or other American records 14 different times.


 Pre competed in the 5,000 meters at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. He took the lead with a mile to go and held on until Finland's Lasse Viren passed him with 600 meters left in the race. Pre finished fourth.


 His death in a car accident on May 30, 1975, shocked the running community world wide. Pre was only 24 years old. Twenty years after his death, Pre's impact on running is no less than it was at the pinnacle of his career.

(National Distance Running Hall of Fame http://www.distancerunning.com/inductees/2000/pre.html)


Read more of Steve Prefontaine's quotes at BrainyQuote.com by clicking the link!  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/steveprefo109446.html#KgiAidMmM3vLe5yq.99

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