by redclay | Sep 13, 2021 | Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Poetry
by Demetrius Spencer-Coates
Poetry, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility/OAR writing contest, August 2021
They weren’t thugs when the stripped us from our land
and made us eat from there hand
They weren’t thugs when they took my father
and beat him right in front of his fam
They sprayed us for marching with Martin
Targeted Malcolm
Told us we couldn’t drink from there fountain
Burned our houses.
Hung our Ancestors.
Where was our justice?
Where was our justice when we were riding for freedom.
Where is our justice for all the black lies lost at the hands of police.
But they call us thugs.
Because we sag our pants
Got tatts on our face and hands
Sell drugs to feed our fam
Stand outside late night after street lights
Drive cars with tinted windows and get into street fights
Come from low income families were its hard to sleep at night,
Because of roaches, rats, killers, and street mice
So it ain’t our fault if we get discouraged
That ain’t a reason for them to want our race to perish
Because we was born to flourish.
Because you all took our ancestors and brought them here,
Instilled fear in there minds that would last for centuries and be passed through genes.
Do your research these thugs manipulated and brain washed us
Then called us thugs for what we could not control.
So tell me
Who are the real thugs?
Part 2 coming soon on the brainwashing techniques and the Government.
The End
Let my words free your mind.
by redclay | Sep 11, 2021 | Visual Arts
We were beyond excited when our partner Casa Chirilagua wanted to bring back “Fun Friday” with us! We had started Fun Fridays with them earlier this year, then had to cancel when that Friday time was needed for homework help after school re-opened. Starting Fun Friday was double good news – it was a chance for us to bring art and creativity to these cute kids, and they didn’t need as much homework assistance. High fives all the way around!
The setup was a new one for us: Three 30 minute classes for 13 kids in grades 1 – 5. Whew! That’s a lot of kids in a short amount of time! And of course we delivered! In fact, our art teacher Sharmila Karamchandani told us quite a few times how much she loved working with the kids – their innocence, their openness, their freedom of expression.
For the inaugural project Sharmila asked them to draw gratitude trees – who and what are you grateful for, and write that on your branches. And armed with colored pencils and plenty of paper, the kids drew us mommies and daddies, raspberries, owls, and friends. Here’s a few photos to make you say “aaaaawwwww.”
by redclay | Sep 3, 2021 | Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Poetry
by Jerrell Copeland
Poetry, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility/OAR writing contest, August 2021
As the soul cries
within the eyes
that look through the windowpane
enslaved caged thoughts think freedom really bring better days.
To be the answer or not to be
the easy way distracts one from the question.
Helpless, time comes and tosses
those whom are doomed not to elude the catcher.
Free dumb taught by the Master
sale the Black
you know what comes after.
Father time fatherless to my kind oh what a disaster,
for he runs out not to teach the seconds that passes.
As the clock watches hour tic toc vanish
the minute we find happiness it’s banished.
Behind barbwire fences concrete cinder blocks steal bars
and doors that are locked where our loves eventually love another
brothers forget brothers and the hearts torn,
punish, crushed belong to our dear mothers.
This is Black reality
the dark life savagery
its cold in that hole where we go,
so sad to me.
Our pupils envision this is how it has to be.
23 and 1 hour or Sun do what’s right so you don’t have to live like this please.
I beg you to listen so that you may gain understanding and take heed,
a wiseman had a nightmare revealing a ghost dream.
There was a beast called the system
an vicious organism
that couldn’t exist without cells.
Have you heard of it?
It’s Jail.
Unmeasurable in size
it resides wherever there’s a mind,
even in front of our own eyes
we see it not trying to hide
Recent Comments