Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
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.
Oh yes we were blessed! I didn't know it quite as much then other than when I was in high school and I walked home down very nice tree lined streets with very nice large, older homes sitting back from well kept lawns. Whereas many of my other classmates took city buses back across town to some pretty rough areas. You know...."the Ghetto". The high school was the oldest in the city and was built for the children of wealthy white families in 1913. There was a little resentment from guys on my basketball team, but I didn't give a shit. They could all hang out and go home together even if it was on the city buses.

So anyway. We were, as kids somewhat aware of the Civil Rights movement,but I can honestly say I was too young to understand it. There were no guns or gangs around and we walked or biked just about anywhere a kid from age 7-14 wanted to go. I do remember teachers and other adults promising things were going to be much better or greater for my generation and we believed them.

Years later, when I was in college out West in Denver, I can remember walking through Denver's City Park with my best friend at the time, Rob Tabon of the Bronx, NY. He had a huge boom box and it was blasting out the top new jam Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5's "The Message" The song knocked me out upon first hearing it. It was like...finally "My Music" the guys in the group were about my age. What was strange though was my buddy Rob actually lived the lyrics, where as I only mostly knew about that kind of life from friends or people I'd seen on the other side of town growing up. I grew up believing you could do anything you wanted if you really wanted to!

Now as an adult, I see and know pretty much the game here in America. Ask yourself this. Why is it that when we apply for a job, we have to be qualified and have some related experience, but for the top job in the country, a man can be a complete novice
[[some say idiot) and get the President's job?