Tales From A Different Hood

Imbued by the poem Three Days In The Hood by Jacob

A HOODlum wore his HOODie
In the wrong HOOD
When a neighborHOOD
Watchman
Thought he was up to
No good
So what happened
Next is what you'd
Expect
When you stand your
Ground
Since he thought
He was a suspect
He viewed him
As a threat and
Put that HOODlum
Down
So what Trayvon got
Was a couple of shots
From a wanna be O.G.
Who misunderstood
Thought he was in
The wrong HOOD
Cause he was rolling
Wth a gang of skittles
But it's a fact, things
Happen like that
No matter where you
HOOD is at
Cause justice
Will find
Ways to have
The guilty
Get away with
Murder by
Giving them
Acquittals
Cause in any HOOD
The rules are understood
Black lives
Mean very little

Author's Note

Understanding Social and Urban Responsibilites in Poetry (U.S.U.R.P) "Society will not be able to U.S.U.R.P our words any longer!"

Reviews

[....................]

Because of my geography I only get to experience things like this through the news and the news isn't always the best way to get the news. However, while I only hear about it "once in a while", I know it happens daily in many places. Your title reads "Tales From A Different Hood" but you use the line "in any hood..." towards the end when you speak of the "rules" and that is powerful, because you are, in fact, writing about "any" hood. That you have personal connections to this you can write so much clearer about what really happens. It is sad to know that the civil rights movement has come so far in certain areas but racial profiling and racial biases still abound. I absolutely loved your author's note too. Great piece!

[Jerome F Knox III pseudonym Nefarious J. Dorsey]

Thanks for your insightful review. You are right the story take place in a specific place but the end the end result is that hood could be in any city in the country. so the transition went from a local level to broader global level.

[Jerome F Knox III pseudonym Nefarious J. Dorsey]

The sad part is I am subject to profiling because I have dreads, I am Jamaican, very dark skin...it is a daily struggle until they discover I am a Vet than the dynamics change.

[....................]

Imagine... first they see your skin and assume; then they learn and all changes. What does that say about us as humans? Sad indeed!

[The StoryTeller]

This is really true I find. Trayvon Martin sounded like he was from the type of Hood I was from, and things are exactly like that. You could get shot because of the night you were out on, because of your skin color, because of something you said, because of the way you said it, the way they were feeling that night, the color of jacket you wear, the way you dress, the amount of money you have... All types of things. Great way to bring some recognition to it and put it into poetry.

[Jerome F Knox III pseudonym Nefarious J. Dorsey]

First I want to thank you for your review. I just looked at your profile and it was and is amazing I plan to get lost in some of your writing because your profile screams I should....thank you

[The StoryTeller]

Well, you have read some of my work already... :) Anyways, thank you. I'll be looking forward to your reviews. And no problem. I understood, and felt I should say that. I don't often talk about my past, but when I do, I'm honest.