Growing up in Detroit, I – like all youth in Detroit – was well-acquainted with the criminal element. There were the Seven Mile Sconies, the West Wood Hoods, Pony Down, and the world-renowned Young Boys Incorporated running the streets. The Big Four also rolled through the ‘hood in that dark blue Ford LTD, busting heads from time to time. When you grow up in the urban jungle you quickly learn which animals are predators, which animals are prey, and where you fit in the food chain.
(Shit hits the fan beneath the fold)
It’s a bad thing to be on the south side of the food chain – I learned not to wear jewelry the hard way. I was on the swim team of Henry Ford High School, and one afternoon after swim practice I was heading to the bus stop with another guy on the swim team. It was the 80’s so I had my little rope chain on – nothing gaudy like Run-DMC‘s chains or Mr. T’s mobile Fort Knox – just a little ¼” rope chain. Next thing I know, I hear from behind me, “Yo nigga, check that shit in!” It was three big guys in NY Yankees jackets. Pony Down. At that moment we had a choice – give up the chains, try to fight, or try to run. Seeing how they were already up on us, running wasn’t an option – they’d have grabbed us as soon as we turned to run. Fighting wasn’t an option either – the two of us may have weighed 250 pounds combined, while each of them were in the 250 range. Our only option was to check our shit in.
Technically, this is known as strong-arm robbery, but today it is known as Eminent Domain. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government can take your property whenever it feels like it in order to “foster economic development.” In other words, if Wal*Mart wants to bulldoze your neighborhood in order to put up yet another SuperWallyWorld and you and your neighbors give the Waltons the finger, the city/county/state government can step in and tell you, “Yo nigga, check that shit in!” Nissan wants to build a factory on the 40 acres that your great-grandparents actually got and passed down through the generations? “Check that shit in, nigga!” If some developer wants to build condos where you home currently sits, “You gotta check that shit in, nigga!” This is now the law of the land – if you have something that corporate America wants, and you refuse to sell/lease/give it to them at the price that they dictate, then prepare to check your shit in.
Nigga.
Skin color doesn’t matter any more – it’s all about the green, and if you don’t have it then you’ve got to check your shit in, nigga. That’s today’s Black & White. Does the discussion about Bush’s judicial appointments seem a little more relevant now? Are municipal and county elections a bit more relevant now? Can we please get our act together now, before we have to check all of our shit in?
