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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2011-05-27
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw5qLiQERBg
when I tell people what I do for a living they often respond by saying things like bless your soul that must be difficult and my all time favorite it's so nice to see someone not working for the money I'm a social worker I tend to the wounds of people crucified to circumstance Kerry hope and band aids in my briefcase share my own scars to street cred
I work with kids who see their probation officers more than their fathers they wear sagging pants in their parents' mistakes introduce themselves as accidents waiting to happen there a Hollywood casting directors wet dream tattooed with the temper do rag D. boys boys in the hood mi vida loca they speak in sign language because they had been talk the our voice marginalization is the chip on their
shoulder it is so heavy they walk with a limp pass it off as swag their fingers more familiar with pipes the pencils I smoked close Pete their world view the code that doubles as they search for god or anyone else they can just look up to each one has a story and media wants to change so he keeps a lucky penny in his pants pocket along
with the quarter I gave him the call with when I in the desperation of his fifteen year old eyes I see more potential than an idea you better never manifested on the campus he makes the city he's scribes pieces of his soul into windows not knowing his pain possessed transparent as the glass sprays amassed moniker underneath street lamps so he always shines brighter than the darkness
of his insecurities he left his self esteem next to a cigarette butt at the bottom of a bottle spot by relatives to see no problem beating fires he screams in spontaneous combustion believes nobody's listening so he commits another crime he likes going to court because they're at least you know someone is paying attention to his sentences I've been his social worker attempting to make sense of
a sin tax him fall to the cracks they swallowed him I've seen it happen in broad daylight son turning the other cheek cowering behind the clouds concrete quick sand traps you but Venus fly homies who claim to have backs fronts offering no help and so many of our kids are sinking Emilio asked me for directions but there's only one way to go from where he is
ice storm is heart beats his compass we look at the stars on his psyche I ask if he's ready to replace them with dirt underneath his fingernails he asked me how he is supposed to escape the Stan I remind him he cannot ask for when the goddess footsteps if he's not willing to move to speak first by speaking cliches taco butterflies in Phoenix isn't hip hop
in so many ugly things that a blow to the beauty I speak the truth I tell my don't know things will be okay yeah so in statistics are stopping in the prisons put housewarming party that John the streets they don't change but I know that people do hope is not a helium filled balloon that a slip up finger tips we do not have to watch potential
float away I am a social worker I work with kids to learn to spell stigma before their first names but each one is an artist learning to draw their own conclusions their pencils or heavy burdens but without a racers on purpose because sometimes the best thing you can do is not go back to I am a social worker and no I don't do it for the
