Gentrification

Quick call the police;

The Negroes are barbecuing at the lake.

Quick call the police;

The Negroes are drumming too loud

Quick call the cops

The colored choir is singing too loud.

Quick call the cops

That pregnant Negro’s belly is swollen;

Search that shoplifter’s belly!

Quick call the cops;

Those Negroes are driving while black.

Quick don’t call the cops.

It’s “Stand your ground” time

Shoot that colored kid

Who dared to walk in our neighborhood.

Quick call the cops;

Those Negroes are entering their own house.

Quick call the cops;

That little colored girl is selling water.

I want the Negroes’ hood,

But I don’t want the Negro.

Quick call the cops!

Dr. Tolbert Small is co-founder (with Anola Price Small, R.N.) of the Harriet Tubman Medical Office in East Oakland, Calif. and former physician to the founding chapter of the Black Panther Party. More of his poetry is at sites.google.com/site/maskspoetryofdrtolbertsmall/