WHERE HAVE ALL THE BROWN BOYS GONE?
WHERE HAVE ALL THE BROWN BOYS GONE?
By Stephanie R. Bravo
When we were young our game was hide-and-seek, I was careful not to peek.
But as I grew, so did you
And you went places I never knew.
I tried to find you, but I couldn’t.
You made sure I wouldn’t.
And so did they–
Who failed to play
They clocked your kind,
And put you on the line.
You had to run when they forced you out From home, from school, from living freely about. Running from the world outside,
Searching for freedom on a wild ride.
Without a trace or safe goodbye,
I couldn’t really understand why.
So I asked again and again:
Have you seen any of them?
Where have all the brown boys gone?
Out all night and up past dawn.
Where have all the brown boys gone?
Trapped as Lady Justice’s pawn.
Disappearing in stages,
Less and less over ages.
No hope for future sages.
Street side, in rages.
Upstate, in cages.
Downstate, in cages.
Shot on front pages.
No hope for future pages.
Where have all the brown boys gone,
And are they ever coming back?
Gone in solo without their pack
Doing time
Paying for the crime of
Poverty with drugs, gangs, violence, theft Or for going too far to the left.
Set up by the chains of history.
It shouldn’t be such a mystery…
But where have all the brown boys gone?
Still going,
Going hard against the dawn.
As days drone on
Lines blur worse
Until they fall back into their curse.
At dusk the cycle begins again
Until they decide when it ends.
But when it gets to be too late
The cycle breaks
Sealing their fate.
Far off course from their own terms, But it forces them to change and learn. Reported,
Extorted,
3 strikes—
Deported
When a small light shines through
To help them build a life anew.
But when there’s a flying monkey on your back, It’s a lot easier to turn right back.
Cruising back down the wrong way, anguished All the way down to extinguished.
Still going,
Going
Slowly
Until they’re done.
Where have all the brown boys gone?
