kids on the street.
This is what broke my heart today.
i roll by them walking from the apartments on Hollywood Rd.,
and i think about all of this.
this isn’t Los Angeles,
it’s Atlanta,
and the kids walking down the road on our Hollywood,
are strapped,
for sure.
i think about them when i hear the bangs down my tiny street.
i think about them when 12 speeds down that same tiny street,
half-an-hour after the pops and the bangs rang out.
they rush to nothing,
but an empty lot,
empty,
save for the body,
all alone,
face covered in a shiesty
i get angry,
when the shots are ‘round my way.
i ask myself why these stupid ass kids carry tools.
i’m angry at their parents,
who raised them poorly,
or didn’t fuckin’ raise them at all.
i’m angry that the cops don’t even bother showing up,
unless someone calls about a body,
that needs removal.
i’m angry about the system that let it get this way.
i’m angry that it doesn’t seem like anyone gives a damn,
until it’s time to flip all this property into new builds for higher tax bracket individuals to sweep up.
only then,
will it be time to fix things,
then,
all “fix things,”
will mean,
will be pushing these poor folks out of their homes,
to the next dogshit area,
allowing them to come back,
only if they can afford the rent,
at the apartment buildings that were put up in place of their houses,
that have one bedroom units,
for double,
or triple what it should cost.
i’m angry,
i’m angry that pencil meets paper about this today.
i’m angry because we’re so desensitized by this shit,
that this piece,
before i’m even done writing it,
will be perceived,
by even me,
as extra,
unneeded,
noise,
useless,
counterproductive.
--
Jan. 13, 2025
hundreds gather for Kenneth Collier Jr’s. candlelight vigil.
Kenneth Collier Jr. was a 17-year-old,
an 11th grader.
he was found,
shot several times.
his father said his son got off track,
and was pulled back into a bad crowd.
he said:
“Unfortunately, when you’re still in a situation around your friends and environment, and that’s all you see a lot of times, you can fall back into it. As a parent, of course I did everything I can, we did everything we can do.”
Jan. 9, 2025
12 responds to gunshots at Riverside apartments in Austell.
Jul. 25, 2019
at 11 years old,
Kenneth Collier Jr. self-publishes,
“Button Buddy Stops Bullying: And So Can You”
Dec. 3, 2017
a woman is shot and killed inside a car,
mistaken for someone else.
when 12 found her,
dead,
they found a one-year-old in the backseat.
the dead woman’s name was Tamika Trimble.
she was the mother of the one-year-old,
along with six other children.
one of which,
was a then,
ten-year-old,
Kenneth Collier Jr.,
who died on Jan. 9, 2025.
--
that’s what i think about,
when i drive by the kids wearing the shiesties,
tools in the waistband,
here in Atlanta,
on our Hollywood.
it's all,
just,
one big,
sad show.
stop fuckin’ shooting each other.
from Hollywood and Spring,
TCB
