The Nerve Of Humanity

What amazes me still
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,

the looks, the behind
the backs, the hand shakes
backed by lies, the smiles
of evil, the racist jokes,
remarks, the stereotypical
ignorance, the breaking of
livings instinctual laws,
by the time I was sixteen
I can spot it a mile away,
the sarcasm, the sales pitch,
(I escaped being kidnapped in
Egypt when I was eight by
not falling for his con
and running the hell away
from him),

but you know what he did, he
knocked on our door and I told
my mother there was a man trying
to kidnap me and she smiled, I said
don't open the door, she was on
the phone talking to my father, she
opened the door with the chain on
and the man said that my father sent
him to pick me up,

my mother told him alright, closed
the door, locked it, hung up the phone
with my father and called the police,

the nerve of humanity, those men in
Egypt that whistle and yell at every
women that walked by, ran after them,
brushed against them, scared the hell
out of them, I screamed and
yelled at everyone of those low life
cats that whistled at my mother or my sister,
I always felt I can eat those guys up
even as a child,

we moved to America when I was ten
and that's when I went from the all
Egyptian boy, to the boy with a weird
name, the camel jockey? sand nigger?
the boy who didn't speak English,
so fight him, pick on him, put words
in his mouth, surround and follow him
home (with a vibe man you didn't need
to understand the language to know
what they were saying),

and I was always sad by it, never
scared, just sad, I wanted to make
American friends, not fight everyday,
or have people make fun of my name,

but I did, learned the language, made
many beautiful American friends, became
a Dallas Cowboys fan, a Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band fan, Bob Dylan Fan,
Buddy Guy fan, Muddy Waters fan, Duke Ellington
fan, Billie Holiday fan, Nikki Giovanni fan,
Bukowski fan, Etta James fan, Bessie Smith fan,
Luther Allison fan, Langston Hughes fan,
Frank Sinatra fan, Nat King Cole fan, Jimi Hendrix fan,
sweet potato pie fan, hamburger fries and ketchup fan,

the nerve of humanity to push you down when
all your trying to do is live, stab your back
when you're just working to make a living for
your family, start rumors that have nothing to
do with you or your life, B B King was a slave
as a child, he went to Memphis as a young teen
and saw a black man hanging dead in the middle
of town for people to see, I think he was
thirteen or fourteen, he became the
king of Blues.

man the nerve of people, they'll use you, use
God, use an elderly person, use a life challenged
person, sell children, they'll put a collar around
your neck if you let them or if they can force you,
steal from family, steal from someone that provided
them with a job, steal from a neighbor, leave a so
called dear friend behind,

no peace in site when we got those kinds of brains
operating in places we (the sane ones) know they
shouldn't be operating, the right questions don't
get asked to eliminate those who do not subscribe to
simple equality, simple morals, the simple pursuit of
happiness (right on Will Smith) the right people
aren't asking them, back to the inside job, the fix
is in, money's agenda rules the world,

individuals save it.

What amazes me still
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,

what keeps me going
are the good ones.

Hope Grows In Guts

I am so lost
in the right thing man,
the real thing,
sometimes it's hard to breath,

the people struggling
everyday, working three
jobs, no complaints, make
me proud to be human,

parents taken care of
their children,
single moms, single dads,
grandparents raising their
kid's kids, immigrants making
a home for their family's,
that's America.

I am so lost
in the right thing man,
the real thing,
sometimes it's hard to breath,

hope grows in guts, resilience
is not taking no for an answer,
human 101 is walking out of your car
and helping somebody push their car,

I dig people trying to help, trying
to change things, standing in
front of the White House with a
sign, marching for a cause, not
letting their voice go unheard,
peaceful protest not militia training,
not cross burning white hooded maniacs,

who's harboring terrorists?

those who oppose peace, hate
for no reason, feel entitled into
some sorta superiority, social class,
based on skin color? I say get
an education and call it a day,

I am so lost
in the right thing man,
the real thing,
sometimes it's hard to breath,

perseverance rises like the sun
everyday, hope grows in guts,
you can't stop real dreamers,
real innovators, they're coming,
always coming, you know the ones
they raise Pyramids,

and for every underdog
that makes it, a million new
dreams are born, for every
one legged runner that finishes
the race, a million seeds of hope
are born,

I am so lost
in the right thing man,
the real thing,
sometimes it's hard to breath.

True Harboring Of Terrorists

Images, smells, memories,
folded, tucked, dry roses
of once life,
streets on fire,

when I hear words
with so much hate
it sounds like God crying.

Muslim this, Christian that,
Black this, Mexican that,
racist politicians should be
let go to under go therapy,
not to help change laws in
the middle of the night,

racism should be viewed as
insanity, they should be made
to get psychiatric help, or
find an island, where I am
sure they'll have problems
with wild life,

I can't, won't, ever believe
that someone in their right
mind would hate someone they
don't know? That's beyond logic
bordering on criminal and simply
insane.

so shave your heads, put on your
sheets, march, send emails recruiting
kids, tell them you believe in Hitler?
hide behind hoods, burn crosses, burn
churches, write hate songs, live hate
lives, bask in the sanctity of ignorance,

freedom of speech isn't a legal
loop hole, isn't a right to commit crimes
or instill fear,

you need a brain, a heart and courage
to realize you're a human being, superior
to none, above no one.

Freedom does not take kindly to you or
to those harboring you
under a mockery interpretation
of our greatest right,

for we all know hate CRIMES
are a derivative of what (they) call
freedom of speech.

One Judge And A World Of Criminals

If you believe in God
then judge not,

if you believe in God
then don't hate,

if you believe in God
then live forgiveness,

if you believe in God
then love all religions,

if you believed in God
you wouldn't point your finger,

if you believed in God
you would respect all love,

if you believed in God
you wouldn't preach negativity,

if you believed in God
you would practice understanding,

if you believed in God
you wouldn't be so damn broken,

if you believed in God
you wouldn't talk so bad about people you don't know.

One Muslims's Prayer

Let us not
melt before
our time,

let our youth
echo through
our wisdom,

let not bad
memories
pollute our
future,

let music and art
accompany our
daily living,

let peace
inner us
through
peace,

let understanding
proceed our
judgment,

let kindness
be our second
sun,

let our humility
evade our
humanity.

Dear First Class Citizen

The pain our eyes watched,
live,
on that day
that melted
our equilibrium,
our indestructibility,
our human rights,
the day we felt the world's pain,
as we rushed to schools
thousands of miles away
to get our children out,

we didn't know?

Who's watching our backs?

This was on CNN live?

And now as we celebrate
Thanksgiving, Christmas,
fourth of July...
help with food drives,
raise our kids,
pay our taxes,
buy girl scout cookies,
send our local little league
teams to regionals,

second class citizens?
can't be born in
another country and
live in America?
Only Americans live in America?
American Indians?
Will they can have casinos now?
Melting pot?
Will the pot is full you see
we only wanted a European white
melting pot,
not too spicy you know what I mean.

Breaking News:

Gumbo's here to stay baby.
Haven't you heard of:
Abraham Lincoln
Martin Luther King
Zora Neale Hurston
Muddy Waters
Nelson Mandela
Anwar Sadat
President Clinton
What about Freedom?
What about can we all get along?

What about B.B. King?

I have seen Bruce Springsteen and the E street band over 30 times,
I know about the "price you pay", "grown-up", "the E street shuffle",
I walked the boardwalk in Asbury Park at 2 a.m. in the rain,
feeling at home because of those guys.

Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Joni Mitchel, Steve Forbert, John Prine, Nancy Griffith,
Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Sharon Olds, Willie Dixon, Willie Nelson, Lucille Clifton,
Langston Hughes, Frank Horne, Countee Cullen, Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf, Etta James... Remember
remember the long hair guy in the Elvis movie: "No matter if you're black or white
if you're a freak)" we all love Elvis. I was in a light blue polyester
Dallas Cowboys pajamas, from Sears, watching SWAT (Robert Urich with his hat on backwards sharp shooting) when breaking news said Elvis was dead.

Ali Ali Ali: He's still pretty, still fighting, still teaching,

"freedom fries", pouring out good wine and "flip flop",

That's your move?

I can bake an apple pie
dusted with Cinnamon
that'll have the flag dancing,
I have my own Barbecue recipe,
I tail gate and bass fish,

I find the Village Voice
where ever I live,

I am a Dallas Cowboys fan
from back in the day:

Roger Stauback, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Harvey Martin, Ed "Too Tall" Jones,
Robert Newhouse, Preston Pearson, Tony Hill, Danny White, Billie Joe DuPree ( I loved that Little u), Tom Landry ...

I am a second class
citizen now?

I fight for preserving Blues man,
I owned a blues and Jazz club
where I booked some of the great blues
legends,
I sit in candle light listening to Trane, Monk, Bessie, Muddy,
Buddy Guy, Anson & the Rockets w/ Sam Myers, Steady Roliin'
Bob Margolin, Billie Holiday, Bird (I know how he got that name),
Bernard & Luther Allison, Charlie Christian...

Guitar just called me (Guitar Shorty)
when he was sixteen he played with Ray Charles,
Wilson Pickett, he was married to Jimi's sister,
he's my brother,

I am a second class
citizen now?

thirty two years later?
you're gonna make it hard
for me now, because I was born
in Egypt? I delivered the Washington Post
when I was thirteen, five high rises and
eighteen houses, you know how big the Sunday
Washington Post is? been paying taxes since
I was sixteen, registered for selective services
when I was eighteen before I even got a green card
just because I love America.

Little Steven my brother (No Justice, No Peace), right.
Man I know every Andy Griffith show by heart,
The Jefferson's, What's Happening,
My family was like the Cunningham's, we just ate more
fava beans then pot roast (with the little teeny potatoes),

I used to walk home through
Arlington Cemetery when I was twelve,
You know how many nights and days
I cried at the Vietnam Memorial,
how many squirrels I fed there
with wounded veterans
still fighting for MIA'S,

I am not the price
of you're incompetence
nor the hate that lives within you,

I am you're greatest achievement,

Freedom.

You're still digging our sand discovering,
studying our mummies, learning our medicine,
displaying our treasures,
learning from our architecture,

Now
help me
help you
to truly understand (see that's a lil' Tom & Cuba),
It ain't always 'bout da money,

Cigarettes are legal?
Pot is not?
Are you out of your mind?
Do You Understand What Research Means?
Do you know how many people die daily of cigarettes?
That's legal?
You ever see a doctor prescribing cigarettes
to a patient?

You're gonna let Michael J. Fox down?
Not on our watch man,
not on our watch.

We have to
use our brains
to full capacity.

In conclusion
I am a man
who chooses peace, integrity,
diplomacy (which requires no racism),
patients,
and the celebration
of what America
truly is:

home of the free.

From an Egyptian/American.

Anderson Cooper

I wish you get clear brother Anderson,
why must you label terrorists as:
Muslim extremists?

I've never heard you refer
to Timothy McVeigh
as a Christian extremist?

how many kids were abused
by Christian Priests?

I certainly don't have the time
to list all the crazy
Christian freaks
through out history
nor the Muslim freaks,
but we both know
we can have a field day

(irrelevant),

why isn't the Christian religion
being attacked?

instead, ration,
logic, those are just bad
priests, bad people, bad Christians,
those individuals (mighty white of you)
need to be punished to the full extent
of the law,

now let's talk Muslims,

off with their heads,
sand Nig,
Islam is attacking us,

spare me the BS man,
enough, really, enough,

Islam has not attacked us,
Terrorists did,

the rest of the story is
what agendas are making up,

what the three bumper stickers
(Sarah, Glen and Rush)
are using to make money,
this isn't about Tea, it's
racism hiding as usual,

I think too much of you Anderson
for you to fall for that,

we know better,
generalizing is a sad state
of being, you can't put a muzzle
on freedom,

and you can't package Islam
with Terrorists,

that's sadly taken care of
by our resident evil cultural Terrorists.