“My children learned just the same as yours
As long as nobody tries to close the door
They cry with pain when the knife cuts deep
They even close their eyes when they wanna sleep
We must all have Identity,
That’s the only way we can be free.
Now peace, you say
is all that you ask
But self-respect is a separate task
You may be sitting up there
in your ivory tower
60 stories tall
I know that you may have checked out at least one ghetto
But I wonder have you lived there at all?”
-Marlena Shaw “Woman of the Ghetto”. Cadet 1969.
