by 
Someday you’ll understand
My uncle told me once,
niggers don’t want to work.
I looked at him and said,
I don’t want to work.
We stared at each other
in my grandparent’s living room.
And I wondered
if he would ever be able to look at me the same way again.
Because he will look different
to me
for eternity.
Then he said,
you’ll understand
when you’re older.
I’m thirty six now.
And
I don’t think he makes any more sense now than he did then.
by 
that is a great poem, and anecdote on why a lot of shit is fucked up. shit is fucked up on both coasts, both sides of the mason-dixon, and on all continents. your shit ain’t fucked up, though. good man, jonny. by the way, i don’t want to work either.
What the hell was that?
had the same conversation with my father when i brought home a puerto rican.
word.
can’t believe the poem. This morning while watching the news, Harry (ass-face) Smith threw around the race card like me with a bottle of whiskey. when the media, Rev. Al and co. stop perpetuating the problem by glorifying it, we will all be the same. Pisses me off to the hilt.
Big Juan,
I don’t want to work either. We are not alone. Based on that and #3 below, the majority (that includes the United State of White America) is one.
Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: \?ni-g?r\
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
Date: 1786
1usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a black person
2usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3: a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons
Big Juan,
I don’t want to work either. We are not alone. Based on that and #3 below from Websters, the majority (that includes the United State of White America) is one…
Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: \?ni-g?r\
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
Date: 1786
1usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a black person
2usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3: a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons
Big Juan,
I don’t want to work either. We are not alone. Based on that and #3 below from Websters, the majority (that includes the United State of White America) is one…
Main Entry: nig·ger
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
Date: 1786
1usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a black person
2usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3: a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons
read
3: a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons
…i hate even seeing that word, but ya know, i think you’re entitled to use it in your poem…
…& work…fuck, nothing can get in the way of enjoying ones life like work despite the fact that it generally allows most of us to afford the time…damn !!!…
…love the folks who say “oh, yes, if i won the lottery, well i’d continue to work here”…really ???…how little imagination…
A song reminds me of this little poem. * Simple Man * one your love and understand..
peace,
Sorry, guys but I love my job, 3wks off after cardiac surgery last summer and I couldn’t wait to get back to work.
My favorite thing is mastering a chosen task.
Existentialist.
Patrick, happy you made it through the surgery, really. No shit bro.
“My favorite thing is mastering a chosen task.”
Mine? mastrabation. …and spelling.
if i won the lottery? yeah, everyone I know would never see me again.
I hate racism.
practice,practice, practice
I remember when my brother gave my dad that ” I don’t want to work either..” type reply, in relation to the same ignorant type comment, must have been thirty-five years ago but things change so slowly.
It left the ol’ man speechless and me smiling.
Love to watch the “Planet of the Apes” movies for the same comic (sad) effect, racists, bigots, its nice to feel superior to the unwashed.
to quote carlin “it’s all bullshit”
Jonny, et al-
You know, I’ve met some seriously hard-working black guys (if I may be so bold as to use that term) and you know what? They impress me. It’s harder for them to get ahead than white guys like me. I’m proud to work beside that guy.
And why do you suppose short-sighted, cheap-ass, chiseling contractors hire Mexican day labor? A lot of place, wages are (supposedly) controlled– the Mexican crew still produces more profit for Mr. Chiseler. I’m just sayin.
Mikey
damn that was a pretty fucking good poem…racism sucks,and it always bothers you more when people close to you turn out to be dumber than you thought.
I agree grizz. I always grew up hoping this was a generational thing…something my parents thought that would be gone by the time I got older. I always wince when my “contemporaries” express the same sentiments. Someday it’ll be gone….right?
great poem, as the purpose of poetry goes.
Vote jonny for poet laureate of Arizona of cycling of race relations of something.
“3: a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons”
Once the term was used for the Irish passengers on trans-Atlantic sailing ships who boarded with the promise to pay their fare with indentured service. It eventually became synonymous with the lowest ranking person on the boat.( or maybe that came first?)
As to racism, the National Geographic has a deal that tells you your ancestry for $100 and a sample of your dna. You get a letter back full of interesting tidbits, the most startling of which: we are all descendants of a single woman and single man in Africa’s Rift Valley 10,000 years ago. The population was around 10,000 then but only her offspring survived and multiplied to modern times.
Now, how does a racist square those ideas with their bigotry?
And, by the way, I refuse to read any religious notions into this idea. Religion can be a divisive and ignorant instrument of racism.
plain belly snecth’s and none upon thars, while the star belly snecths had stars upon thars. And everybody new that the star belly snecths were the best on the beaches.
word.