Because there are times when we all feel like there’s no one else like us, or who has gone through what we’ve been through. 
Attack of the Clones
This is for the black girls
and black boys with backbone,
the ones strong enough
to stand up to peer pressure,
the ones who understand
that to be weird is the natural state of things
that normalcy is the pursuit
of the unimaginative.
The ones brave enough to go it alone
when your community expects you
to be the next Jordan, Jackson or Lil’ Kim.
The ones who spend hours in the lab…
practicing science experiments
and math equations.
The ones more familiar
with the accomplishments
of Charles Drew than boxer Jack Johnson.
The boys and girls more familiar
with the lyrical cadence of Sagan and DeGrasse Tyson
than Lil’ Wayne or Young Jeezy.
This is for the little boys and girls
who turn down rewards to shoot free throws at Warriors games
because it conflicts with their science fair (true story).
This poem is for the intellectuals,
the boys and girls who will be the shapers of tomorrow.
This is for the kids who will,
Kick. Your. Ass… in Trivial Pursuit™, Scrabble™, chess, Scattergories™,
basically any board game that requires
intellectual or unconventional ways of thought.
The boys and girls who spent
afternoon hours with Bill Nye,
instead of 106 & Park,
for the children who would rather stay in and read
than go out and play,
the ones who would rather go out and play
than stay in and Playstation™ or Xbox™.
This is for the adults who spend Saturday nights
engaged in discussions about politics and religion
before hitting the club for drinks and dancing.
This is for the adults who spend weekends in lecture halls
simply because they love to learn.
The one whose literary library rivals their musical library,
hell, the ones who have a library.
This is for the bibliophibians,
the ones who “inhale paper and exhale ink,
who live between the pages
and whose habit is the written word.”
This is for those unafraid of being labeled different,
this poem is for us,
the stenographers of the everyday;
Thank you for letting me be myself,
safe in the realization that I am not alone.
Victor Harris © 2010
Thank you for being you.
I really like this a lot. It’s thoughts like these that get conversations started and, hopefully, action. The one question that comes to mind when I think about the experiences and expectations of kids from varied communities in this country, is the question of access. Who has access, who doesn’t and why? What can we do to provide more access to science, art, museums, labs, etc?
I really wish I knew what to do Brian, I think it’s as much a societal attitude as much as it is about access. There was a Boodocks comic strip years ago where McGruder had Huey say something to the effect that we need to make fun of ignorance and apathy, I think that speaks to the root cause, the “nerd” or “geek” in pop culture is still looked down on, the irony of course being that most people are made to feel like outcast at some point in their life. I think if we can lessen the idea of the other and increase empathy then perhaps access won’t be such an issue, there are libraries all over after all.