For Young Blacks, the Lost Generation (Newsweek, 8/14/78) (2 of 3)

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leaves babysitter you without a single "nickel bag ," with prison afternoons to dribble , pass and shoot , a maybe-murderer still dreaming of a "little bit of land" down South, no trouble. How much do you know of trouble? Your spit-and-polish father, the cop-yes, cop - who left when you were 1 to climb his own stark road of rocks and glass, knew a generation more of it, had hands not so unlike his father's greatgrandfather's toughened in the sun, blackened down long rows of cotton, cane and corn: slavechild old enough to see the gun, to feel the whip, to take into his nose and throat and swamp of skin the salt of threat , of kill, of death on death. "Them old days ain't shit to me," you'd say, remembering perhaps the days your father tiptoed back to wake you, take you fishing on the Jersey shore, his gun and holster shining from a basket. So you, Patricia, radiant from L.A.'s "pregnant school," dandling happy chance you took, plan being specia l? Not wife of Theedie, not daughter of the Houston whiskey smells, not even independent welfare queen, but Breaker of the Cycle, little Taneshia one day pointing "There go my mommy," graduating. You gamble on love to break you out, long heritage of dungeon nights on pitted floor where lovetalk dulled the nightmare call of Brutalmouth with stick in hand at dawn.

Full description

Final Draft Poem written by Emanuel in 1978 captures feelings of disillusionment among elders regarding the prospects for Black teenagers due to industrialization and technological advancement. Page 2.

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  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    2 MB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel papers
  • creator
    James A. Emanuel
  • credit
    James A. Emanuel
  • issue
    BOX 4 FOLDER 27, "The Chopping Block (Selected Poems), draft, 1988 (2 of 2)
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    Final