every day i look forward to reading chris malixi's "daily sub quotes" because theyre not only really funny and entertaining but they remind me of the dope ass times that i had when i was in high school myself..damn its been a minute. but today he posted a quote that one of his students said while talking to another teacher at logan high school:
"a revolution is a revelation in me"
-marvin
i have to say that i was really impressed with the depth of knowledge and consciousness that marvin, the student, had with just a few powerful words..and the other things that chris says he usually is always talking about..pyc, the pilipin@ community, organizing...but damn this shit is really deep and he's a junior in high school! how amazing is that!
today, chris reminded me of the power and hope that youth have to make positive change in their lives and in the lives of the people around them. i realized that ive actually met marvin once at an anakbayan east bay meeting in oakland earlier this semester. such a laid back, quiet dude..little did i know that his mind was runnin with critical ideas of "socializing" and "organizing" and other revolutionary things. what a GANGSTA! trip off that..he's a junior in high school!
soo..when i was runnin hella errands today like voting in the california primaries, handlin some loan stuff, going to the bank, and hella other shit..i went to the post office on kitteridge to get some stamps to send thank you cards to pamilya and homies that helped fund my campaign..i ran into some high school dudes..who were prolly too cool for school..who were just kickin it on the steps right outside of the post office. at first, i laughed because i thought they were just passin by..but i realized as i was leaving that this was their "kick it spot". how crazy is that...the post office is a spot to kick it after school for a group of guys runnin about 15 deep. damn, has high school really changed since i've been there? what a trip!?
i remember always havin a spot with my friends to kick it at every single nutrition and lunch period. we would always meet at the same spot every single day without fail. our spot was on the right side of the stage of the quad area on the first planter. we would roll 10 deep usually and it was fun..eatin our flamin' hot cheetos and our unhealthy, reduced priced lunches. that was our spot and no one fucked with it even though we had a tracking system that changed the times of the year that we would be in school. it was ours.
when i look at these dudes and when i think about the potential they have to do some really dope ass shit in this world..i get a little sad because i know that these dudes are prolly not gonna graduate high school, get a diploma, or go to college. its almost ironic that berkeley city is just around the corner because that's prolly where their new kick it spot will be once they "graduate" or "leave" berkeley high. its like berkeley city was created just for them even tho ucberkeley the number one public institution in the nation is just two more blocks down the street. damn, how this system is so fucked up.
regardless, i am glad that there are SOULdiers like marvin..who are gonna do somethin in this world..something worth hopin for..no matter how difficult or hard it will be for him and others like him to give their lives to the movement/revolution..there really is still hope in our youth today.
and although marvin may be an exception to the cycle of poverty, violence, abuse that most of our youth get caught up in every single day..many of our youth..our brothers and sisters are seen as "lost causes" (like these dudes kickin it hella hard at the post office) to the eyes of educators, teachers, policy makers and society in general...but quite honestly these cats are just "lost" they aint missin..locked up..or dead. theyre right there..ALIVE..just kickin it at the post office..
..so who the fuck is gonna show them the way?
No comments:
Post a Comment