THE BEST OF 2014

A Look Back at 2014, The Year of Soul Searching

A montage of photography during 2014, "A Year of Soul Searching". I thank all of my supporters and mentors for your personal energy, advice and attention over the months. Your support has allowed me to grow, influence and bring a sense of peace and happiness to others.

THE LANGUAGE OF URBAN CHILDREN THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

STEPS TO BECOMING A GENIUS

 At a fundamental level, this is how we begin to fix what is broken in our community, specifically with young talented Men who fall between the cracks of our broken educational system. Too often, Black boys are ostracized and profiled as not interested in learning when the obvious is that the standards and methods for learning are outdated for the advanced minds of contemporary youth. Children embracing the "other" America, the one that is easily attainable by shortcuts, guile and imitation, a lifestyle where it requires those of weak resolution and determination to be rewarded, kills all chance for innovation, true creativity, collective work and responsibility to self-determination as a society. To be better than all Peoples as well has creating a legacy much like royalty to pass down like wealth and pride, we need our talented to be elevated, matured and ready to be better than the generation before them. We need to consolidate our geniuses.

 How to become a genius:

1. Consider yourself being a genius and act like one in every moment of your life and you will very soon feel that you are one.
2. Work out your time in such a way that every hour is properly utilized and put aside as much time as possible on becoming better.
3. Established a good skill on recognizing data that is valuable and vital.
4. Learn something new and valuable each day.
5. In anything you read or observe, make sure you understand it. Clear up the words you don’t understand and ask or look up anything at the moment to understand observations which were not understood. Never pass by something you don’t understand.
6. Carefully choose a profession in which you earn your money for living and at the same time enables you to enhance your skill and abilities.
7. Read a lot and carefully select which literature to read in which to gain the most valuable and vital data.
8. Evaluate, look and make conclusions on anything you read and observe.
9. Expect much more of yourself than what is expected from others.
10. Help people around you to the best of your ability and establish friends who can support you if needed.
11. Be very self-confident and certain but on the same time be open to listen, look and reevaluate to make new conclusions.
12. Know that no matter how good or skilled you are you can always become better and never cease to become more skillful in anything you have selected to do.
13. The true genius knows that it is not enough for himself/herself having reached sky high levels – he has to take the rest of mankind with him up and has dedicated his life in making it happen.
14. Never refer to yourself or others as being "smart". Intelligence and Smart are polar opposites in meaning, intent and potential and should be considered an insult.
15. Leave a record of your evolution for others to follow and or continue. This is your gift to humanity.

As defined:

Genius - an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc.

Intelligence - capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc. The faculty for understanding. Evolution in aptitude and potential.

Talent - a capacity for achievement or success; ability

Smart - having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability, socially elegant; sophisticated or fashionable. Witty.

A SCHOOL BELL MINUET

A common tale
of physical mutilation
of words gone bad
due to misplaced communication.
As Angels drop to their knees
and cry out with songs
while heaven collects the innocent souls
for all Earth's wrongs.
Who’s to say their place in Elysian Fields
are rewarding
when the space there
dwindles due to selfish hoarding.
And while the lives of others
are paved in preoccupation,
know it now that we all miss out
on our basic education.
Escapism has caused our existence to become
more syncline
reaching, tearing, and grabbing at what we think
"is mine",
giving no cause or reason
to taking theirs or everyone's.
Using subtle clues of destruction
more dangerous than guns.
Mindless,
our very own creation paints us a pitiful peon.
Light in pride, heavy with shame,
forever sinking in Acheron.
As it was on this day
and always in the future
cut downward over and over
like a cadaver's suture.
The idea, traced in colored chalk
by children in silhouette
dancing during recess,
a school bell's minuet.

A School Bell Minuet by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

HOW SEVEN YEAR OLD BOYS SING

Stick for stab
Jumpin grab
Getting the fuk out
Bitch muthafuk forget the shout
Got my piece
Bought not lease
Taggin
Mackin
It’s da real for real
Black all you know da deal

Flip bip an' pow
I got da raw shyt now
Cumin hard
I got yo sweet card
Slow whine down on me
I got da bling for you baby
Turn da ass around
And da around
Breakin yo back
Big Black yo Mac attack

Get wit my program
Oh damn
Like a rubba check
My Ho on deck
You betta be ready
Point yo shyt steady
My Glock on automatic
Fanatic
Nomadic
Top of da 9th Homerun Addict
I’m gonna bat it
Mad Hat it

I crush it like Hannibal
Man handled
Burnin you flammable
I got that work fo you
Unmoveable
Own da room on you
Titan true-able
Beyond liable
The Black Buck
Mack truck
Heavy Load drive
The Lord of light alive
Prison proof
Raisin da roof

I don’t play
I don’t play
Nigga I don’t play
Fuck yall Niggas
Get off my tip
an' go away
I da true Nigga
Multi-Million Figga
Breakin yo back
Big Black yo Mac attack

How Seven Year Olds Sing by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

SHARPE JAMES OF NEWARK GUILTY, DIRTY AND KNOWINGLY CORRUPT

OK lets get this thing started, I use to live in Newark, New Jersey just over the Hudson River and have had family and friends there as well. I even worked there for a short time so my experience with the city is personal and professional. As a citizen of the city I made it my responsibility to KNOW the city, its history, its economics, the politics and its people. Much like New York City, it is composed with many ethnic and cultural groups but UNLIKE New York, it is an extremely segregated city. My experience there not only had a major impact on my life but its current make up not only prompted me to turn away from becoming a part of the World of Politics but on the other side of reporting it and or exposing the underbelly of it. The atrocities in Newark, New Jersey also was institutional in gaining me recognition as a Poet in winning my first Writing Award for a piece called OPPORTUNITY, detailing in verse, how the City of Newark had destroyed generations of its youth over the years. If Denzel Washington portraying an American Gangster, Sharpe James is America's Pimp.

Blacks over there, Latinos of here, Whites on the outskirts way over there, the poor in the center in the Projects and Portuguese, Asians and Italians beyond the underpass past the trains and the west Indians on the boarders on the extreme opposite side of town, Newark is a social experiment on How To Not Run An Ethically Diverse City. With it’s Lightning Rod History and Controversy, Newark still maintains a “fear” mongering form of policing where patrols on the boarders of the city keep those people that might be from the city, from crossing over into their own. What I always experienced while living and working there was as close as Newark was to New York City, specifically Manhattan; it was more Southern in style than Northeastern. Newark, New Jersey; the major hub for transportation, shipping, manufacturing, economic advancement, education and music was more like Chicago IL., Baltimore Md., Charlotte NC., Atlanta Ga. than a Brooklyn NY, Boston Mass., or Hartford Ct. Even with Newark’s history as being a city built by Immigrants, it also has had a long account of being corrupt in its politics. What always amazed me was that in its downtown area, at any given time, you could not find a movie theater (unless you wanted to choose between two Porn Theaters), no Ice Cream Shops or Bakeries, no places to get simple Computer supplies or Electronics, no Bookstores, very few Restaurants, no Hardware and Home Supplies shops and I can go on with a listing of "have-nots" that any small town would have but not the largest city in the state of New Jersey. This lack of Private and Public investment for the past 40 years is what tittered Newark on the brink of being a ghost town way before the Bush Administration's Big Score. The state of the city existed in this type of limbo through several presidents; Ford, Cater, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and only until recently has the cycle broken with the aid of Newark’s present Mayor Cory Booker. For all accounts, Newark was a Ghetto City and that was what it existed as under the combined leadership of two mayors and 40 years.

So why was this? There are many reasons which date back since the later 1960's. Some would argue the White Flight into the suburbs, others would argue the lack of know how by Black Leadership that filled in the void of those that left. Still others would argue the unstable economy that had befallen the City but residents of the City of Newark will tell you that the perpetuation of the city’s misery to be with two men selling and carving out the spoils than an entire Federal and State economy; former mayors Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James. I would blame it on Black Loyalty at its worst.

I had recently posted on my blog the concerns I had about Black Loyalty (THE FATE OF BLACK LOYALTY). In this posting I discussed the pitfalls of Black Americans voting for political candidates just because they look like them and or use all the words of Hope and Change layered in Sermon and Gospel while wearing the Cloth of a Politician. As part of this analysis I used the current state of Newark as a grand example as to what happens when Black Politicians go BAD and Newark, New Jersey has had some BAD Politicians.

Concentrating on the TOP thrones of political responsibility, the mayor is always the figurehead that ultimately gets the hardest look. Looking at almost 20 years of non-transparent management under Sharpe James’ rule, the state of the city had grind down to almost a complete halt with its high crime statistics, corruptions, government abuse, misappropriation of funds, personal and family favors, money laundering, document and witness tampering and the list continue. What more, as the city continued to descend into near bankruptcy, the city was facilitating no-bid contracts, property sales, tax abatements and pushing Imminent Domain upon the city home owners while raising taxes to offset the cheap land that Developers where receiving without challenge. You had Councilmen and women with budgets that would just disappear into thin air without question. Newark was the place to learn, live, profit and love “Dirty Politics”.

What makes this act so shocking is that one would deem this to be the actions under a Republican Administration (President to Governor down to the Mayor) and yet these actions were all from a Black Democratic Mayor whom had won over a previous Black Democratic Mayor, Kenneth Gibson, who did the very some thing for nearly as longs as James. In essence, one mayor past the baton of corruption to the next to continue the raping, robbing and pillaging of the life force and livelihood of a city with the majority being the Black population. A city, which fought in the late 60’s to remove the gangster-type politics that segregated and oppressed a people to only replace it with another (with the help of corporate, special interest and ex-Newark officials whom had moved up in the Private and Public sectors and still had an investment in gutting out the new GAME that was to be Newark Politics). Think clearly then, you enter into a city where the evidence of riots still remain in public sight, where you allow fortune 500 corporations to exist at the center of your city and are allow to practice a "no-hire" practice for the residence within your city, where you allow (under the guise of Imminent Domain) State and County Universities and Colleges, Catholic Organizations, New Jersey Port Authority, State Hospitals and Manufacturing and Pharmaceuticals and Private Developers to expand into the city maintaining a "no-hire" status for its citizens while gifted with the prize of Pay No Taxes. And as each group gutted out the City of Newark, you heard the rallying call of Sharpe James calling these changes THE NEWARK RENAISSANCE.

I made this statement publicly and in writing, which had gotten me in some hot water, not because I was being a racial or radical, but because my words went out and also included Barak Obama:

"I am a skeptic in all things POLITICAL. For Obama, my concerns are his UNKNOWNS. There are many Blacks in politics that are doing great things and there are many that use their positions to line their pockets. Initially they (Black Politicians) all are inspirational and agents of CHANGE. As Black people, we end up on the loosing end when BLACK politicians go BAD or CAN'T do right by Black people due to political promises and pre-conditioned obligations.” – Shazza Nakim from the Blog: Field Negro

My words were not anti-Obama or anti-Black Democrat (as Obamaholics see the World, the statement read between the lines as being Pro-Clinton) the words spoke from a simple truth of past evidence and repeated examples of mismanaged government, not only of Black Politicians, but all Politicians globally. The politics of Newark, New Jersey isn’t unique to just that city but is does show a pattern in many predominately Black cities with Black Politicians at the helm. We can make claim to the same argument that those surrounding Mayor James and Gibson did this but reality the people's lack of the truth, their lack of ownership, false loyalty, lack of transparency, active participation, human nature and a Politician's bid to be like other political officials. The direction one needed to deal with Black Cities (and YES I will make the claim that a predominately populated city IS a BLACK CITY when the majority residents are BLACK) in a uniquely different way than non-Black Cities. Sharpe James has only done what other politicians have done and like those that were TOO greedy, felt they were TOO powerful and got TOO sloppy, he walks out in MUCH SHAME AND RIDICULE.

So what is the end result, does the City of Newark get back its Billions of lost revenue and government funding dedicated to rebuilding it back to its past luster? Do the children reclaim the loss of broken schools; poor education, undo their drop-out status, get off the streets and back into the classroom of the schools that were either closed or condemned, decrease the incarceration numbers because the after-school programs and summer work programs will be re-financed? Do people get to reclaim their homes lost in the vicious cycle of TAXATION? Do you mandate that those people who purposely set fire to their homes and businesses for Insurance in order to leave the city and add to the decay? Do you make accountable the Corporations that had systematically denied employment to Newark residents for generations thus keeping the unemployment rates consistent and steady? Do the city now balance the budget by cashing in all the Planes, Trains, Yachts, Cars, Private Mansions, Manors and Vacation Homes paid for by the tax payers? Do the people of Newark get back the KICK BACKS the Mayors signed off and granted to Developers for years? How about the subsidized resources given to businesses outside Newark with no return back from where it came from? A person can scream to Heaven, “MY GOD” with the type of abuse that had gone on unfettered all because of Black Loyalty in the City of Newark.

I do not like to wish Bad Luck and Ill Will on anyone and yet like Al Capone, the notorious Gangster of Chicago, if the best the FBI can get on Sharpe James is his hooking up his Side Piece on  with STEALING MONEY AND OPPORTUNITIES from the citizens of Newark, just like generations of other corrupt Black and Brown politicians were doing under his watch, THAN I AM SATISFIED WITH IT. My soul isn’t full with the justice but I think the people of Newark will have a sense that some HIGHER POWER is reminding them that "Not All Devils Go Unnoticed".

LIAR LIAR SET YOUR SOUL ON FIRE

I had published a while back about the Science of the Lie. It wasn’t something promoting lying but it was a social and psychological break down as to why people Lie. What prompt me to write about this vile practice was a group discussion about Politicians and Lawyers; how people presume that these professions require an artful degree of untruthfulness in order to effectively do their job. On one side to declared that to assume this was just as bad as those that practice the art of lying in any profession or position. Then there was the other side of the argument, those that promote truth and honesty and goodwill to all, have the best capacity to deceive and lie in good intensions and would never be looked upon as untrustworthy yet would never be looked upon as being capable of lying.

Needless to say I threw in a few professions such as doctors, religious figures, news media and family. The conversations at one point got heated due to strong beliefs and personal pains and yet the truth of the matter is, MAN has the capacity, regardless of position or purpose, the ability to LIE. And lie they do. If you want to expand on the "origin of the lie", you can research back as far as man’s early ability to note stories on stone walls and tablets. The first means of written communication and still you’d have to go further back when man began exercising his FREE WILL.

After that particular social event I continued on with some friends reviewing our experiences pointing out the superficial flaws of the others invited (as they more than likely had with me) and yet the topic of the conversation stayed with me enough to test my insights on what effects a lie have upon my life.

For me, the lie is more than on untruth or a “notch” on the BIG BOARD OF LIFE that would balance whether you’d get in Heaven or not. To me, a lie, especially with intent, is a conscious decision to do harm. A lie, unlike a physical blow, hits the soul. A lie is more like the difference between being upset or mad and being disappointed. To be upset or mad one can over come with a sense of resolution. Disappointment plants itself into the soul and lingers; body, mind and deep within the soul.

From a conscious liar, there is a deceit, a “resolve” to control an action or put off an action. It’s a control of motivation, willpower and determination. If you take it to a religious extreme, the one Being noted that uses lies for goals is the Devil or Archangel entity. Those lies spoken to the individual overall is to "manipulate" the force that is Man and control that “spirit” inside out.

Personally, even as a child, I never did like lying. As a child, lies were often equated to “broken promises”. What child hated broken promises? Those stories line as far and wide as the lie of deceit. I think as a child we have all had our share of each. For lying, it was always in the face of fear. You break something, the parent ask, “Who broke this?” You would hope that the “NOT ME” Sprite from Family Circus actually existed to blame, but they don't. Once the evidence was found, you knew it was a matter of time before you were found out and got THE BELT. There was no "Rod" spared in my household. (Yeah I came from a BEATING FAMILY.) It wasn’t until my studies in college on the subject in Personality Theory and Child Psychology that on the surface, people lie for three basic reasons, 1. fear of being hurt, 2. a personal fear of being inadequate, and 3. a fear of others discovering they are inadequate or what some refer to as SHIELDING. The over all reason for lying is FEAR. My eyes opened wide back then because I now had the keys for understanding why I had lied to my parents as a child because of stupid shyt like having people over while they were out of town or taking $20 out of the purse instead of the $5 that I had permission to take. It also made clear all the Blind Dates I abruptly ended because Picture Who didn’t match Person Ewwww.

I make it known that there are three things I do not tolerate in a relationship; friendship, relationship or family:

1. Do not lie to me
2. Do not lie on me
3. Do not use me in a lie to get out of something you did

These three Laws of Trust I hold as unshakeable principles. Bridging the Laws of Trust there are several more for Respect which are closely married for my Peace of Mind but right now, the trust issue is pramount for my thoughts right now. I have lost many associations with my ethics and often ask myself, "Am I asking too much form humanity?" I mean should I at least allow for the “little white lie”. Then I re-think that question and answer to myself, “No, I don’t even allow for the BIG WHITE TRUTH.” My understanding of TRUTH is like a straight line. It does not deviate, it's as simple a path as my journey in life should be. It doesn't waver, even for a minute. Lies take turns, they get bumpy, they go through tunnels and dark places where light gets dim and sometimes dank. I know the imagery is a little over the top but that is how I see Lies and Truth; as clearly as night and day. So when I am lied to, it is REAL to me.

Why talk about lies? Well right now I am dealing with a LIE that was masked in TRUTH sold to me in TRUST and I bought it. The price, according to my principles, was too high and now I stand in the position as my parents did, looking down at the broken Lamp and asking, “Who did this?”. I already know what the answer is. As an effective writer and researcher, you are taught never ask a question if you do not already know what the answer will be. Since I now know the "truth of the matter"; all I need to confirm is the intent. Was the intent a fear of being hurt, a fear of being inadequate or did the fear of being inadequate in their eyes, make them assume I would see their reality in a different way? In either case, the answer, be it in truth or another lie, I'll still be Disappointed and thus the actions of that lie has planted itself within my soul.

BAD ASS KIDS

I love kids. I do. Really I do so I get offended when people assume that I have it in for little children. Hell, I am a kid at heart. It takes very little effort for me to spoil a child and get down on the floor and play with the same toys, games and color in the books. I like to engage children to see where their minds go, how they work and determine if they have the insight for great things or do I label them "special" and give them the "tard" card. Its that teacher aspect in me to challenge the mind and spirit of all the people I become engaged with. Often adults (mostly parents) complain that I am a spoiler of children. Spoiling in a sense that I would take whatever troubles or stress a child have and let them forget them for a moment. Tell a child they can't have candy and guess what, there is candy in the kids pocket. Can't have the Playstation? Guess who has Playstation for their birthday? I can honestly say that in my youth, I have had some very happy moments and I hold on to them like Angles hold the word of God. With uncles and older cousins, neighbors and grandparents that saw that as a child, I listened to my family, did my house work, did well in school and overall respected my place as a child, my reward to outsiders may have been seen as spoils, but I saw them as rewards for being a decent child.

My child raising philosophy is pretty basic, "Protection and Honesty" with children is what holds children in the esteem of adults and in return we hold "Structure and Discipline" for them as a foundation for proper living. It’s in degrees that we exercise structure and discipline that we struggle with as a society. Its in that old adage of "Spare the rod spoil the child" debate is where we divide as a nation culturally. I am a "rod" person believe it or not. So where am I going with this you ask? The following events all happened within a three-day period so bare with me as I vent a little.

Day 1

Long day and my energy level wasn’t at the highest and I know I needed to be indoors as soon as possible. I watched the kids running up and down the street with their costumes on going door-to-door looking for candy and treats. Trick or Treat ringing in the air all in unison. All this activity reminding me of my youth when I knew my bag of treats will be the death of the thousands of dollars in dental work my parents put into my month but it was the one day I knew I could get high on sugar and have my parents wish they could commit me to a psyche ward for overt hyper-activity.

So I’m walking home knowing my day will soon be done so I can lock myself behind the door of my personal sanctuary when all of a sudden, POW. Right in the jaw I get hit with something hard. So hard, I grab my mouth to see if blood was drawn. As the shock of the impact begins to wear off and the pain begins, I turn to see a kid try and hide behind a tree. The kid must have been about 11 or 12. I didn’t care if he was 1 or 91 because I immediately went into a red zone. As I begin to commit a major crime, a group of kids cut me off and begged me to listen to them telling me, “It wasn’t him, it wasn’t him!”

Clearly the hiding kid, who I KNEW, hit me with a rock was the person. I still marched toward the kid knowing that I was going to beat them like Sofia beat up on Harpo in The Color Purple. When I get half way to the kid who now sees that I was an adult (better yet one of those crazy adults that have no problem going to jail for murder) he begins pleading to me that it was someone from some phantom building behind him that was throwing rocks – mind you I’m getting more piss’ed because he thinks I’m stupid now. Just as I begin the action to choking the boy my Guardian Angle snapped me out of my rage and tells me, “BABY, TODAY IS HALLOWEEN, A DAY WHICH CELEBRATES DEMONS AND DEMON LIKE BEHAVIOR. GO HOME AND GET YOUR MIND RIGHT."

So I paused, took a deep breath, looked at the boy (who was clearly in a panic) and his future Junior Mafia rug rats, and I let it go and left for home. I took a long hot shower as soon as I got in, ate a light meal and chilled in peace watching a slasher movie to release from that moment.

Day 2


There is this family that live above me. Mind you, I don’t like stereotyping people but they are from somewhere south of the boarder. Now the wife just had a baby, which by no account is a crime. The thing is, she has four kids all of which are a year apart. There is the husband who I know for fact is working two jobs, and the grandfather, old as dust. So the total number of people in their apartment is seven. Mind your, it a studio apartment that would be crowded if you only had two people living there. Since they moved in, I have had many discussions about noise and each time they shake their heads and agree to work on the problem until they close the door.

Now you recall me saying how much I like kids? Well these kids I don’t like. Not because they are kids but because their parents allows them to do whatever they want and do not listen. For a group of children less than 90 pounds combined, they move like 300-pound linebackers. These kids run, jump, drop spin, roll furniture, march, stomp, skip flip from 8 AM until 11 PM just before the father comes home.

So on this particular day these kid, possibly after O.D.’ing on candy, were Off-the-Chain. I must have knocked on the door at least 5 times asking the mother if you could control her kids. Her responses in broken English, “I try but they are hard to listen.” By my third visit I asked, “Do you want me to help you? Because I have a very good method that you can apply.” She said No.
By 8 PM, I was kicking her door. When she opened it I wanted to talk to her husband. YES I demanded to man of the house. Then Girl tried to jump bad at me saying she is sick and tired of me knocking on her door about her kids. Mind you, her kids are running around in the background writing on the walls, butt naked with food all over their face and dirty hands and feet. So then I told her she need to reign in them BAD ASS KIDS or begin looking for a new place to live because as of today, I am involving management. Then she played the, “I don’t speak English card”. And to her my response was, “But you do speak Immigration? Have your husband come see me if you have an issue with my knocking on your door.”

Now I know that was bad. I know I need to ask for forgiveness. BUT since then, it’s been quite and now I can sleep and enjoy my peace of mind.

Day 3

Had to go to the doctor. My annual check up. Again, not in the best of moods but it was going better than I had expected. So I’m in the waiting and looking to have a seat when the nurse tells me to have a seat near the door. As I get the seat, this little African kid about 4 years old decides to jump up on the chair. Not sitting but literally standing in the chair. So in my sweet voice I ask the kid, “Can I sit there please?” the kid looks at me and says, “No”.

OK. I look at the kid and then I look at the person next to the kid thinking that maybe she was his mother. Since she didn’t react I really didn’t know what to think, so I asked the kid a second time with a more firm tone of voice, “Can you get down so I can sit young man?” to which he said, “No”. And he stood there in the chair will an attitude as if he had marked the territory for ownership by peeing on the property.

“Boy if you don’t get off that damn chair I will beat your ass until you pass out! Now move before I snatch you up out the way!” I yelled at him. The kid didn’t expect that and in a moment of shock, he got down and stood across from me as I sat down in the chair. Now I can tell this was something new and unexpected but personally, I didn't care. The waiting room was quite as they all looked at me. I looked around at the others in the room and noticed that as the faces looked back toward mine, they all had a look of simple satisfaction. It then occurred to me that this kid had terrorizing everyone in the waiting room prior to my arrival but there was a fear to actively do something. I also noticed I was the only adult male in the room as well.

So I sit in the seat and begin to read a magazine when I feel this wind rush pass my face. I look up from my reading material and see this little kid swinging his fist inches in front of my face. At this moment I channeled my mother.

Now let me break from script down a little. When I was younger, my mother had a low tolerance with BAD ASS KIDS and did not have an issue with beating other peoples’ children. If the child crossed the line with profanity, vandalism, disrespect to elders, or just stepping outside a child’s place, you got beat. And if the mother had and issue, too often my mother and the other parent had at it as well. Momma didn't play. In this case, this Little Ashy Bea Bea Bush Baby from Darfur allowed my mother’s spirit to flow freely into my veins.

“Who’s kid this belongs to?” I bellowed, as I grabbed the kid by the collar. The boy’s eyes were as wide as saucers. The woman sitting next to me then grabs me and tells me that the mother is outside in the hall; and she’d go get her. She takes the little boy and sits him in a chair across from me and proceeds to get the mother. While gone, the child then begins a staring match. I was giving this kid that silent look that spoke volumes and all I thought about was seriously knowing who his father was so I could whop on his ass for busting his nut to bring this creature into existence.

The mother arrives with a dismissive attitude asking what was the problem and what did my child do to you? For which I replied back that her child had crossed a serious line with adults and you really need to address this before something happens beyond your control.

“Well did my child hit you?” she said.

“It don’t mater if he did or not, your child should know better than to raise his hand at an adult and how to behave in pubic with you here or not, especially when he thinks he can swing his fist at an adult and think there would be no consequences.” I said.

Not only was I surprised but also every adult in the waiting room when the mother’s response was, “I don’t see what the drama is all about, he’s just a baby.” She then proceeded to pack her things and left with her child.

Once she left the waiting room, the woman then got the mother from the next room (the same woman that I had initially asked if she was the kid's mother and ignored me) tells me she is a Corrections Officer for Rykers Prison and got involved because she know that if I had hit that child, she would have been forces to arrest me and she didn’t want to see that happen. (I laughed at her logic). She then continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll see him behind bars in about 8 years. Its his destiny with a mother like that.”