Let us take action
Let us take a stand
As we march and clap our hands
let our voices be heard

We can all wonder
and sit and ponder

We can all say what if and whose who,
but what I know is environmental justice is true

Transit racism, pollution
all things we fight against

Opression and Depression
And now we are in a recession

Who’s to say, who’s to blame
When we are all playing the game

So now everyone asks what can we do
let us join in rallies, and protest
I know I will how about you.

There is this place

that does not consist of race.

Where we care about our sea

that is not full of debris.

Where there is understanding

in everything being demanding.

Where we are not concern

but eager to learn.

Where we are the changers

and not the strangers.

Where buses do not pollute

and cars are at a mute.

This is a place for me

where we all ought to be.

Higher prices for gas

that’s causing the pain in our a**.

Higher cuts toward our in-home health care

that’s causing old people to fear.

HEY ARNOLD !

Transit racism still proceeding

as the minorities keep bleeding.

They keep failing

and the President keeps bailing.

HEY ARNOLD !

I wish some companies would see the pollution in the sky

cause we as people do not want to die.

When will they finally see

that they are polluting our sea.

HEY ARNOLD !

A Tree of Life !

Playing outside, giggling and laughing

under the tree,where there’s a cool

breeze, which takes smoke from

city to city, where kids play

under the sun, soon comes rain

and washes it away, until tomorrow

when its a new day

the sun comes up and shine

below, for all the plants to grow

the tree, the grass, the animals

cant wait to see the day go.

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in education

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in transportation

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in needed resources

Resources that makes communities self-sustaining are being cut

WHY?

To close a 47 billion dollar deficit brought on by the “governator” who needs to be terminated

1/4 of the budget cut into 24 million dollars, sad that education and transportation has to be cut

so that means no more learning and mobility

is it the “governator’s” plan to eliminate “Cali-Forn-ya’s” population of minorities?

is it SchwarzeNegger’s plan to disenfranchise, disable, degrade the working minorities?

Or is he just trying to cover his overspending, I guess he never had a “Piggy” bank growing up

47th in Educational spending and 1st in Correctional spending

California had to be on top one way or another

Mr. Mayor wants to close his deficit as well, but wants more police

more police to harass, embarrass, degrade, criminalize young minorities

suffering still at so many levels, when will it ever end

everlasting fight of Environmental Justice because

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in education

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in transportation

Who’s to blame for the masses of minorities receiving cuts in needed resources

A generation
Downplayed for immaturity,
Growing in intelligence
But noticed for our impurities.
We have enough to deal with
On our own.
Peer pressure, stability,
Stress at school and home.

And 2009 is a year of change…
Not to blame Barack,
But the teacher crisis is a shame.
Stimulate this,
I have a package for that,
And yet California
Is stealing from the one thing we lack.

Somehow gang violence
Has replaced education,
So police have replaced
Positive mediation.

While we need more
Textbooks, resources and stuff,
The police haven’t figured out
A ticket’s too much.

Not to say that the concept
Is bad,
But the actuality of it
Has been a bad reality to have.

I almost feel like
I’m a target or somethin’.
As if they’re tryin’ to take me down,
While I focus on what I’m becomin’.
Going to school to make somethin’ of myself,
And that 5 minute “truancy”
Ain’t gonna help.

What does it pay to have a mind today?
To stand up and say that somethin’ is not okay?
Not much, if we have a surplus of police
And one teacher has 55 students to teach.

Why do we have to deal with
Fear and intimidation
Of ticket distribution
And excessive “regulation”?
Yes, I’m talkin’ about tickets,
But that’s not all.
I’ve heard of police
Searching Cleveland* students
Up the wall.
And police eyeing girls
Instead of watching for wrongs,
And being fashionably late
To try and break up a brawl.
And not to say this is a police
Muscle flew,
But there’s a school that’s
Called an education complex.

This is why I fight
Needless to say, we need more…
Teachers, money,
Class subjects to explore.
And it’s good to know
There’s always a solution,
Just give us what we need
Not this psychological pollution.

Forced to think a certain way,
I look back.
Reminisce about how
I was treated,
And realize the reality
Of how we’re self-defeated.

Two steps from falling
Under the same trap,
Because the mile that it
Took to get here
Started with being black.

Don’t get me wrong,
A proud man, I am,
Yet I’m being fed
That the color of my hand
Is a stigma.
Bein’ taught to embrace
And promote the term n*gga.
Internal verbal opression ‘ccause of
A different shaded pigment.
We continue to say
Black power
Through a blinded vision.
While looking down at the person
That’s in the trash diggin’.

As if we couldn’t be there,
That’s what we’re taught to think.
And treatin’ another man
As if he doesn’t deserve a blink
Of our eye.
Treating this being as if he
Wasn’t alive,
Because we distance ourselves from
Those strugglin’ to survive.

Then we can go back home,
Look in the mirror and smile.
Not giving a second thought,
And I wonder why….

Who am I?
Am I really the future like everyone says or just another court case
Below the federal poverty line is where the majority is based
So how can one afford a $250 truancy ticket for being 30 minutes late
Especially since unemployment among minorities is highest in the state
Not to mention that lausd has a 50% high school drop out rate

See, the students here is not to blame
When our public transportation system is lame

But imagine MTA if students had better transportation
To better their chances at receiving an education
And not end up at a police station

Imagine if schools would realize
That being able to criminalize our youth is where the problem lies
Tardiness can be dealt with in other ways

Instead they put us in the hands of the ones that say they “protect and serve”
Giving us tickets for simply being late is a punishment we do not deserve

MTA imagine living in a city where transportaion was priority
And not ticket terriority
Where the handcuffs placed on the rists of youth were considered pelicular
And police unfamiliar

Imagine MTA if you put 500 new expansion buses on the street
And reversed the ‘07 fare increase
Maybe the number of tardy students would decrease

Imagine if schools weren’t a pipeline to prison
Introducing our youth in the court system at an early age
Imprisoning them like an animal in a cage
Its time for a change

Imagine how much transportation means to a student striving for success
But daily tardiness is makin u stress, depressed, leading to your future arrest

Imagine MTA being the student disabled from participating in after school activities because the 115 comes once an hour
Or causing you to come home at an undecent hour

Imagine MTA the change transportation can make for me and my peers
A better life in our future years