Peace March Reflection:

I have so much respect for Perspectives and our stance on social justice. I believe students should take a stand against violence in our city. We know that Chicago is one of the most segregated, if not the most segregated city in America. The Peace March on June 1st brought  students together from different backgrounds, which is a perfect key to opening the doors of hope for Chicago.

For the last two years, I have been a teacher of Spoken Word writing and performance skills.  The teaching process has opened my eyes to how I can change the world. It has helped me to be more confident in sharing how powerful artistic expression can be. For example, I have a cousin that got caught up in gang violence. He was at a point where he did not care about himself or anyone else. I introduced him to poetry, which changed his life. He doesn’t gangbang anymore and he is on the right track.  That’s how I believe I can play a part in bringing change and hope to the city.

Original Spoken Word Piece 

If we don’t know our history, we’re deemed to repeat it.

Bringing back black excellence, Only this time the sequence.

We came ready to play the game,

Picked out the perfect defense.

Came to spread the word,

This the perfect prefix.

We brung Earth Wind and Fire,

Just to sing the reasons.

Economic climate changing like the seasons.

See Before we took a loss,

Skip them L’s it’s cool J.

It’s that….MC Hammer time….

Blue print to a better day.

Because We’re legit,

Too legit,

Too legit to ever quit.

We’re resurrecting black Wall Street,

So we had to come to come equipped.

Building the economy with geometry,

astonishing.

I am the wood,

Ghee I’m a tree.

We’re that Gated community running with fluency,

We’re copping black doctors we ain’t worried bout the flu in see.

Sending messages subliminal,

Stealing time we’re criminals,

Think as minimal as minimal

See that there will limit u,

I salute to every soldier

But my mind generates thoughts of a general.

Some see savages like Rambo,

But I see platforms and ammo.

By supporting dreams

I fuel self-esteem

Turning colored into commando.

Ambitions is my ammunition so

I’m stocked up with the ammo,

My aspirations allotting greatness so I’m shooting shots like Rambo.

And knowledge gone do burglaries,

Enter homes urgently,

Sneaking into seeking cutting brains up in surgery.

This ain’t dreams and opportunity,

This real life influencing.

Seems that feed on mental absence and truancy.

I got a shout out,

I GOT A SHOUTOUT!!

I wanna shout out to my mom

she passed on to me this knowledge,

She thought change and made it

She thought dollars which made profit.

So it’s all about your thinking,

“Positivity makes it possible”

Lack of confidence causes incompetence,

Which makes progress more improbable.

Our limits they don’t exists,

Every step I take forward is 3 times my shoulder length.

Entrepreneurship.

 

Bio:

Deshon is a rising senior at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science academy. He is actively part of Young Chicago Authors and the peace work at his school.

More about Louder than A Bomb | Young Chicago Authors:

LTAB is an annual event hosting over 1,000 youth poets for a month of Olympic-style poetry bouts, workshops, and special events. Students representing schools and community groups in the Chicago area perform original solo and group poems in a tournament-style competition.