Nero fiddles while Rome burns, Newark is turning into a city of God
But who is Nero
Over the course of the past few days the whispering campaign has started
The layoff of police officers in Newark, has started the gossips and fear mongers
Tongue wagging.
I was talking to a friend who owns a alarm shop, and he said that he is getting more and more business
He told me that this city thugs…………. have begun testing the response time of the Newark police department
They have been pushing doors hard enough to set off the alarm
Then standing in the background they try to see how long it takes for the Police
To show up
This is a tech used though out the ages
But law enforcement responds with patrol techs that include
Being systematically unsystematic.
Therefore, they had better watch their asses
Having said that
Their they are
Teasing
Testing,
Tasting
At least
This is the gossip
I have had several people advise me
Not to walk around at night like
I used too
I hear rumors of three deaths a day,
Shooting, shooting
Of course this didn’t start with the police layoffs
The mood was set months ago by
No jobs, no programs no care
Whose fault is it?
Not the Cops,
Not the Mayors
not The governor
Rodney’s …..
Lord knows it not the President Obama
Its not about fault, anyway
Its about bad economic times and a inner city
Impact well beyond the rest of the country
Anyway
I have felt the chill in the air….. long before it got cold
The have seen
The look of uncertainty on the faces of the working poor
For over a year
The violence of inaction
On the faces of business folks
Sitting idly by while no customers come in
To purchase or to order
I have seen it in the faces of family and friends
A despair
A desperation and longing
for some happy days
Or ………………..just some good days
I refused to believe that a few laid off cops
Caused this up surge in crime
It’s the holidays
Christmas is a brutal time for any city
A formative time for crime
A constant cause of stomach aches for me
Depression for others
And most of all a time of robberies
I didn’t believe that laying off some cops
Would change a city this fast
But it has
It’s a pr war and the city is losing
Once people stop feeling safe,
Ok once people start feeling even less safe
Its lost already
More people retreat t inside and less eyes on watching
On the outside
I have a advantage
People don’t pay attention to old people like me
Unless they look closely
And see my dead eyed stare
As they figure out that I am too not only old
Too mean to play with
Anyway
While
Walking to the bus stop today
I walk to ferry street by the way
Today their were more people on the street
It was crowded on the street and barren in the stores
As I was walking
Some thing told me…………………. to turn my head
And just as I did
Two young guys riding double on a bike
All dressed in black
Whizzed past me
I mean Evel Knievel fast
As they did
They extended their arms and as they got near a street vender
A stall set up by the curb selling winter wears
Glove and hat s scarps and more
Where was I
Mean both of these guys flying past on this bike
Snatched a arm full of gloves, hats and belts
They didn’t slow down,
They didn’t hesitate
They didn’t miss a beat
The storeowner ran out of the coffer shop, located no more
Than ten feet away
But it happened so fast
Their was nothing to do………..but sigh
I mean it was like……………..watching one of those Japanese movies
Where assassins riding on motorcycles, Spray machine gun fire at their subject
And keep on trucking
It happened too fast to react
The shop owner and me, just looked at each other,
As we bent down to pick up and clean up the carnage
Nothing was said
Two old men looking at each other
Silently
I felt like we were both veterans of Normandy
Not a word was said
It didn’t have to be
I continued on and got on the number one bus
Which is lately has been coming much slower
The bus was crowded
The traffic was horrible
But it was warm
Suddenly the whole bus turned their heads to the left
I looked just out side my window
And saw that their was a crowd of kids fighting
Now I am talking about a Portuguese kid fighting a Latino kid
I mean these kids were no more than 10 years old, with a group of about 15 kids watching
The girls were the loudest egging the boys one
Well those two boys squared off and hooked the shit out of each other
My fellow occupants of the bus looked on quietly, reverently
No one said a word,
Except for one old black woman……………………who said
“That’s a damn shame”
We looked on as the kids fled running in a pack, and almost knocking over
A group of Old Portuguese ladies walking gingerly further down on Ferry Street
Man I thought that in their minds
This must be a land that time should have forgot
Onward bus, every where I looked
People were walking just a little slower
I got to school and was glad for the respite
Then I remembered the police lay off
And thought to myself that some thing is going on bigger than
Just that
This must be happening on a lot of corners in America
It isn’t just a Newark problem
But a national problem
And it started to snow a bit
And I said to myself
This might help
Folks don’t like the cold
