Those Kids

Those Kids

*I previously posted this as a facebook note.  Just wanted to include it here in the blog posting.

 

by Sherie Blok Escobar on Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 10:54pm

(This has been brewing within me for a while, but finally spilled out after some ignorant comments by a visitor
to our school last week, praising the long school day and saying it's probably "better than where 'those kids' come from.")

Oh, how sweet!
You work in the INNER CITY.
I’m so proud of you…the work that you do….
With “those kids.”

Those kids – so at risk!
Oh, those poor kids.
They must never laugh…their lives are so sad.
Hopeless kids.

Those kids aren’t so smart.
And they use so much slang!
They curse and they fight, And they don’t own a thing.
Those kids.

Hold on…“Those kids?”
Did you say that to me?
I try to respect you, and not disagree.
But something is wrong,
And it’s not them or me.

“Those kids” are my kids,
And you’re pissing me off.
They’re smart and they’re sweet
And their souls are not lost.

“Those kids” are survivors –
They’re tough and they’re strong.
They’re funny and crazy
And they talk all day long.

“Those kids” have a strength that you haven’t got.
They’ve hugged crying mothers whose sons have been shot.
They raise money for victims of earthquakes and despair
They hear about injustice and declare things unfair.

Please do not pity my children or me.
They have a strength that some just can’t see.
And that’s the only “at risk” factor
I can see.

‘Cuz though they live in the city,
And are not all white,
Those kids…MY kids…
Aren’t “at risk.”
They’re “just right.”