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Oakland Scenes: Snapshot of a Community
"We wonder why history always repeats itself...Rome and Net Nets in 62, 72, 82, 92, and now in 2002, because through all the madness, we laugh at the ghetto kids on the bus stop."
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to the piece!
By Gerald Ward II, Bianca Yarborough, Bridget Taylor,
and Ise Lyfe
In Oakland, California, more than 100 people have died this year as
a result of homicide. Many of the victims are youth — sometimes
as many as three in a single week. Violence is now a topic of conversation
among young people. What you are about to hear is a street corner conversation from
East Oakland, documented by Youth Radio, interweaved with poetry by Ise Lyfe. The voices belong to Gerald Ward II, Bianca Yarborough, her mother Bridget Taylor, and the poet Ise Lyfe. 19-year-old
Ise Lyfe performs with Youth Speaks, a poetry project in San Francisco.
Rome and Net Net Intro
I'm here today to tell a story. A twisted story of ghetto glory. Now, I know
you heard of Romeo and Juliet, but I bet, you ain't heard of Rome and Net
Net. See, this story is a bit different. A bit more explicit. So sad,
almost all bad, they young, beautiful and don't even know... Society tell him
to be a thug, tell her to be a... They, victims of a system placed on us
years ago.
GERALD and BIANCA (on tape)
Gerald: Where are we right now, Bianca?
Bianca: 78th avenue.
Gerald: What do you see?
Bianca: Liquor stores, nail shops, there's a whole bunch of people socializing.
Gerald: This your neighborhood?
Bianca: Yeah, I try not to go outside at night. Because you never know you
might get killed.
Net Net at the Bus Stop
Let me tell you how Rome and Net Net first met. She was standing at the bus
stop, sucking on a lollypop, short skirt, short top - "Girl you need to
stop! You wearing summer clothes and it ain't even hot!" Net Net ain't the
only one to blame. A number of things make her do what she do. Her mama
was never really there. Her dad died when she was 2. Yet and still, up she
grew. And out she grew. Maybe a little too fast because the drunk men on the corner said, "Damn girl, look at you're a--." And she laughed, not knowing she being disrespected. She look up and see Rome coming from the other direction.
BIANCA (on tape)
When I get off the bus, all I see, the first thing I see is a prostitute on the corner
who's pregnant, and who's like probably 20 something years old and that's just
depressing. I mean it's like, dang, she has so much she could do so much more with
her life. I mean, if the homicide rate keeps climbing and you can't just live...I mean, because its affecting everybody. I mean, you never know if that bullet is gonna come and hit one
of your children.
BIANCA'S MOM (on tape)
Right now we're at a point where I don't like my child to be out at night, without knowing exactly where she is or picking her up directly from BART or from the place where she was because stray bullets are everywhere. You know I had a visitor at my home and stray bullets hit the car, and you know it could have easily been a person, so it's not a very fair situation.
Rome and Net Net Meet
Now here come Rome, fronting on his cellular phone, cause his credit got
denied when he tried to get it turned on. Looking dumb, with weed in his
socks, and crack in his gums, he walk down the street throwing up where you
from. He see Net Net, pretends to hang his phone up. He touch his pager
like it's being blown up. He said, "Damn, baby girl, what's your name?
What's your steeze? Why you got that skirt on, it's only like 40 degrees!" She
said, "Please!" But she was getting sick, so she sneezed, "Ha
CHOO!" He said, "Bless you." She said, "Naw, forget you! You don't know
me well enough to be talking about my clothes and all that kind of stuff."
"My bad, baby girl, I'm just looking out for your health. By the way, let
me introduce myself. My name is Rome. Can we chop it up, talk on the
phone?" "No, why?" "Why? Cause you fine, and I know you tired 'cause all
day you've walking through my mind." No, he didn't use that tired line,
but...she's trippin, so you know what she say? "Oh okay, that's so sweet.
You're the man I always wanted to meet!"
GERALD and BIANCA (on tape)
Gerald: My girlfriend and I have only been together for about 2 or 3 weeks. We come from
such the same background in Oakland. Her mom lives on 94th, and I live on, my mom lives on
23rd. It's interesting because at a time when we were younger, since I was like more of a square kind of a person, we could have been friends, but I also could have been someone that she
thought was square. I used to carry a briefcase to school and I wanted to
be a scientist. Then, I wanted to be a stockbroker. I wasn't trying to be
a thug at all. When you were younger, did you used to go outside and play?
Bianca: Yeah. I used to live in the east, on the 23rd, east 23rd and I played
all the time, but I wasn't really aware of the things that were happening.
Rome Dies...
Net Net get pregnant. 9 months later, the saddest day of the year, she's
holding this beautiful baby girl, but her face drops tears as she sings her
daughter a sad lullaby song cause Rome died in a drug deal gone terribly
wrong. You see, Rome died. Never got to see his newborn baby girl's eyes.
Now, he's not there to wipe the tears from Net Net's eyes. Net Net puts
down the baby, the baby cries. Net Net goes in the kitchen and gets a
kitchen knife. Net Net slits her wrists not once, Net Net slits her wrists
twice. Suicide...
BIANCA (on tape)
The only time you talk to your neighbors really is if you like see them outside
and you say, "Hello" and "Goodnight" or whatever. You never talk about real issues,
things that are really important. You can't always like wait around and think that
everyone else is gonna do it. You need to take some action for yourself and
I think we kinda lost that, like our generation...
Rome and Net Net's Daughter Repeats the Cycle
At 10 years old, the daughter says, "Both my parents died." At 13, she curses
the parents she never really knew, "Forget my mama and my daddy, forget him
too!" And at 16, she's standing at the bus stop, sucking on a lollipop
short skirt, short top, cause ya'll we need to stop. We be wearing summer
clothes like it ain't even hot. Leaving our problems to be solved by
somebody else. Then we wonder why history always repeats itself. Repeats
itself. Why history always repeats itself. Rome and Net Nets in 62, 72,
82, 92, and now in 2002, because through all the madness, we laugh at the
ghetto kids on the bus stop. Peace...
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