the cop on tv was speaking in code
when he said "they will look like them"
them is the secret white person code for the word that gets you fired
its the word professional racists use
the ones who tell jokes in the copy room
frustrated
blowing off steam
out of their element in an inner city school
scared of kids
scarder of "them"
but smart enough not to use the magical word that set me free when i said it in an unthinking moment
id heard that particular word used to describe the exact behavior i was witnessing
maybe i was still a bit loaded from the night before
i was a legendary drinker when i was teaching
i couldnt sleep some nights
mind just racing
thinking of the most recent horrors
stressed beyond belief
yeah i saw spots an alomost stroked out
but i didnt
my work here is not done
i need to be the one to break the secret white peoples code
to tell the awful truth about them
what do you do?
when someone "goes there?"
is it a reflection on me that i didnt go malcom x on them?
i really dont think thats my battle
i know the front lines of the teaching profession isnt my battle either
shit, it was a good fight
i enjoy i good fight
but it wasnt my fight
i know i helped keep some teachers from quitting
and opened a few eyes
before i "went native"
before i tilted
before i cured myself of job related stress
at least for that job
i think that if someone wants to be a racist they are allowed
i dont have to hang out with them or respect them tho
i can hope they get punched in the head and walk away from them when they are being a jackass
but when you work with them
and by this them i mean the secret racists who use the word "them"
the "T" word
which the friggin cop did on tv last night
but no one noticed
the word them was just hanging out there for a pregnant second
you know he knew he screwed up
he tried to cover it up but failed
watch the press conference about the stings they are going to do on gun buyers here in phily
it is instructive

now if you have verbal wit and dexterty you can get away with alot of things
i said fuck in front of a class of 6th graders and my evaluating teacher one hot afternoon when i was student teaching
i have a potty mouth
but they werent listening
i quickly repeated myself and your fuoc cuss is important
its important that you fuck us on the important things in life
or you will waste yout time
focus focus fuckus
yeah baby im that good

and speaking of idiots on tv a bus rolled over this week
a mother was interviewed
she said her kids would "never get on one of them things again"
"them" school busses
shes a bussist
and a candidate for mother of the year
never is alonng long time for her four kids to not ride on a bus
but she hates "them"
and thinks they are dangerous

them guys
you know them guys who like guys
the corksoggers
fruity tooties
the figs
youre not one of them guys are you
well i did wear tight white shorts on the weekends
put my arm around another sweaty guy
while another reached between my legs and put his head between me and my huggers buttocks
but thats not too gay
just a homo paradise
but we get to knock the snot out of each other when we are done hugging
so i guess rugby isnt gay
it just seemed that way on my first practice
you want me to put my hand where?
umm
yeah
im not one of those
one of them