"Gates"     by Richie Fuller
	Gates outside your front yard Prepare you for the gates around the prison yard So were tamed from a young age To live in a cage Not to stand on stage Or to vent out our rage Time Is spent on the outside Learning how to live On the inside We’re not taught to become mathematicians We’re tutored on how to become a statistic We’re said to be so nosy But we can’t be the witness We’re the suspects But never the victim. Children visit you More than the zoo We’re called caged animals A caged lion in your gate You’re a slave But it’s not just your fault They’re the reason you think its ok To go that way We were not the first mobsters and gangsters But we getting put you out to dry like clothes on a hanger Stuck behind The great Prison gate Some people fear it Kind of When others respect it Like the Great Wall of China Instead of being the king of our jungles We’re getting laughed at by the pigs. Shipped up state Away from your girl And your kids But Its not fate To live behind a gate But right on schedule You’re sitting in the precinct Like it’s your animal instinct Gates Separate you Like segregation Got you working like it’s a plantation They prey on the downfall of my people Statistics and thoughts have been proven wrong But why can’t the same happen for the Negro We’re just porch monkeys To use our strengths Toward their needs Like Pets To catch food Pick cotton And weed Then back to our gates Where we sleep. For reading- They had no tolerance From miss educated on slave ships To un-given scholarships Up to my knee in greatness But it seems it’s no longer at my fingertips We are all just slaves who did everything but turn night in to day If this is being created equally How can I be an individual? They segregate against my people Thinking gates Will make us peaceful We come from times when being black Was an insult. And now were in jail from everything From theft to assault But U can’t blame us When we keep being taught How to live Chained up           <<Previous  Next>>