ENGLEWOOD

ENGLEWOOD

Reginae Echols

11 th Grade • George Westinghouse College Prep

I bet you looked at the title and probably tried to guess what I would say

I bet you thought it was going to be about something along the lines of....

Police brutality or maybe how the men in my ’hood gang bang

And yeah I could mention the fact that they sell drugs on the street corner every day

But I’ll leave those stories to the news,

Since those are the only stories that they seem to put into the public's minds anyway

Besides even if I did, you probably wouldn’t careSo instead I’ll paint the picture of a placeThat’s heavily underfunded, yet rich in every wayWe’ve been given nothing but darknessHowever, what the world seems to have forgotten is....That stars can only shine in darkness anywayWe have so little, so we don’t take anything for grantedWe might seem poor and broken to the publicBut we’re still living so we consider our lives to be fantastic

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Each of us is damaged in some way And because we don’t have much We find solidarity in our pain So that's what I define as community/family It’s seeing someone's deepest scars, and rather than judging We sympathize with their pain Because the truth is most broken people.... Are most beautiful in every way They say Englewood is a battleground So the way I see it we’re just holding our fort down

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