Is Me or You to Blame?

 By

Queen Macoomeh

Copyright August 2005

It hard to watch what going on. It hard to see we chirren dead in de road. It hard to see we people behine bars. It hard to know we getting licks from outside and getting licks from inside same way. We pointing at Tom, Dick and Harry to blame. We say how is de pohlice wid dey blue power an’ racial profilin’ who harassing we. We say is de teefin’ gov’ment who making we a pappyshow. We say is de parents, de drugs, de TV, de news, de war, de dis and de dat.

But someting crawse meh mine and ah want to aske all yuh what yuh tink.

When yuh was small, ent mammie uses to wipe yuh nose and change yuh diaper? If you went outside wid yuh clothes dutty and snat running down yuh face, ent people used to say “Look how he mudda have he nuh? Dat mudda real slack!” But den yuh get older. Yuh learn how to bade, how to dress, how to comb yuh head by yuhself. If yuh go out in de road nasty, people would say “Look she. Look how she keeping sheself like ah vagrant!”

Dey would blame you, ent? Is your responsibility to keep yuhself decent ent?

So tell me someting den. If I grow up to be ah big person and shoot somebody. How come is everybody else fault but mines? How come I could say is pohlice, parli’ment, BET and PCP?

Now ah not saying all dem ting doh play ah part eh? Ah wasn’ born las’ night. But de responsibility is still mines not so? I fire de gun, I jook de knife. Is I who take somebody life.

I grow up watching plenty TV too. Ah see Lil Joe an’ Lone Ranger blaze awf nuff Apache head. Ah see de Road Runner trow some serious licks in de Coyote skin. Ah watch John Travolta wine up in ah tight trousers in Saturday Night Fever. Ah see dem stars smoke all kine’ah weed, chook all kine’ah needle in dey arm an’ dead. Marvin Gaye own fadda shoot he. Dey shoot Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Michael Jackson like he gorn awf he rocker. It had racist pohlice too an’ very few Black ones to ease de tension. De gov’ment uses to teef den too – dem middle name is Teef.

So what happen now? What eggzakly is de diff’rence today?

Dey have we so frighten dat even if we see dem shoot one of we own, we doesn’ say ah word. We know Sammy not wukking nowhey but we doh akse how come he have more bling bling dan Queen Elizabet’ and driving ah Lexus. Even if we know who it is selling drugs in school, we doh say ah word. De law say yuh cah call he name in de papers, he too young to go to real jail. He was man enough to take ah life but not man enough to take de punishment?

While we blaming everybody else, de criminals picking we awf like a game ah marbles. Yesterday when you commit ah crime, yuh running and hiding. Yuh still had some shame. Nowadays you commit ah crime, you is a star. You out in front gawfing up yuhself.

Blame de pohlice. Dem have to learn what it is dat uniform and gun really mean. Some of dem feel it mean dey could rag you up in de road or handcuff you jes’ fuh so. Dey fugget de motto say “Protect and Serve”. Some feel de new motto is “Boof and Harrass”.

Yes blame parents. Nex’ to Papa Gawd is parents who have to watch over de flock. Yuh cah born de chile an’ leave he fuh de school or de road to mine.

Blame de video and de music too. But de TV and de stereo have ah AWF button ent?

When yuh done blaming de parish and de marish, it have one person left back.

Dat person have to take responsibility fuh dey action. Blame is ah funny ting and de way dey write laws deze days, blame could spread like ah oil slick. But responsibility only have one owner.