Kids that Rock Harder than the Rockettes
by Samantha Raheem

Current mood: hopeful

So I got a bunch of free tickets to take some kids in my after school program to see the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall starring the Rockettes. Turns out everyone knows who the Rockettes are except for me. I thought they were liking singing girl chipmunks or something. They're those identical-looking show girls who dance and wear those designer leotard things that show enough leg and thigh to make KFC happy. When I told a group of my kids that I got tickets to the show they were really excited so that made me happy. So yesterday, we went.

The show was delightful at times, but not my sty. The most exciting part of the trip were two of my boys, let's call them Jason and Jesus. Whenever we go on trips, while all the other kids are in the back of the line goofing off, these two boys like to walk up front with me and I marvel at their conversations. So I'm going to share with you snippets of some of the things they talked about. I'm not exaggerating at all. The depth of these kids' knowledge was fantastic.

Thoughts on Gangster and Gangsta

Jason: There's a difference between being gangster and gangsta.

Jesus: Yeah, people get it mixed up all the time.

Clara: What's the difference?

Jason: Gangster is when someone will walk someone's house who did them wrong and take out their whole family in the blink of an eye, with no remorse. Gangsta is when you're trying to act hard.

Clara: How do you know all this?

Jason: I just know.

Thoughts on Umbrellas (it rained as we walked to Radio City)

Jesus: I don't believe in umbrellas.

Jason: Yeah neither do I. I like getting wet. In the 1st Century A.D rain was celebrated.

Jesus: Yeah, now its just inconvenient to people. It's from the earth. Why do people run from it?

Jason: We don't grow our own food so we don't depend on it anymore. Maybe if some of us learned to plant a damn tomato we would have some appreciation for the Earth again and how the world really works.

Thoughts on the Rockettes

Jason: And there wasn't one black Rockette was there?

Samantha: There was one. But she was light skinned so from far away you couldn't really tell, but I know my own kind when I see them.

Jason: Man! What does it take to be a Black rockette? Maybe they have to come with their visa card and their new honda and buy their way in.

Jesus: And they don't know how to tap. What was that?? That wasn't even close to tap dancing. It was just jumping around with metal plates on your feet all at the same time. Good job! Of course it was going to make some organized noise.

Thoughts on Columbus Day

Jason: Man! Next Columbus Day I need to find some people who think like I do and start a protest!

Jesus: Yeah, good idea. Columbus slaughtered all of my ancestors the Tainos.

Jason: Yeah, why are we celebrating a murderer? Is a day off really worth our morals? I don't want a day off. We need to turn it into a memorial day for the Native Americans. That's why we should have the day off. Not in honor of that rapist murderer.

Jesus: And why does he still get credit for "discovering" a place that was already inhabited by people? Is there not enough money in education to reprint all those textbooks?

Jason: Now they're saying that Europeans were here even before the Native Americans. They found a European style arrow head.

Jesus: Yeah, but what if it dated back to the Pangea, when the whole world belonged to everybody before it all broke apart?

Jason: Columbus messed up the whole world, man. Africa was fine before slavery. They had big kingdoms. And they had already developed a cure for Malaria. They probably invented cures for diseases that weren't even out yet!

Jesus: Yeah! They did have big civilizations. In Mali, and Ghana and...

Jason: and....

Samantha: Songhay.

Jesus & Jason: Yeah! Songhay!


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Samantha Raheem has been a member of BackTalk! Poetry Troupe and Black on Black Rhyme since 2000. A graduate of Florida State University, she is currently teaching, writing and performing in Brooklyn, New York.
Myspace: www.myspace.com/samanthaspeaks
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