Originally Posted by
Jerry Oz
I have frequently said that I [[and you, apparently) was blessed to have been born when I was. Ten years earlier and I'd have dealt with the blowback of the Civil Rights Movement [[and probably died, with my level of rage). And ten years later and I would have dealt with the bangers and mixed-up generation that prefers to settle scores with bullets over fists [[or words).
As a teen, I was right in the sweet spot that had a glimmer of hope that hip hop was going to save the world through the unifying power of music, art, and dance. But break dancing fell by the wayside, rap battles in public spaces became shooting galleries, and graffiti artists preferred to stay on the illegal fringes of society.
Dreams of a country that I could believe in became a nightmare for most [[I didn't have it bad, personally). Hope and positivity gave way to drugs, gangs, self-hatred, a generation of children without fathers, a third of my brothers being incarcerated before they turned 30 years of age, and Donald Mother****ing Trump.
Wow. Didn't see that coming.
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