Testing the mic because we need a check please. Don’t get stuck. Try not to freeze. It can be hard to speak up at times. Especially when you feel no one understands. Not your parents, not your lover, and not even your childhood friends. And, this may come off as a run on, but when you speak your truth, it’s best to just go on. Don’t stop. This is my first attempt at touching upon something deep. Some of us deal with problems head on or just by being naive. The politics, the cultural influence, the harsh truths that bleed through our streets.  Can’t go a day without hearing something terribly wrong in the news. From Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown. All of a sudden, wearing a hoodie can get me gunned down? Tyler Clementi to Phoebe Prince. And now we can’t love who we want in fear of being bullied to a death sentence?  And this is the tragedy the majority of us know? What about the countless others the media refuse to show? Too many youths dying in this world. If knowledge is power, why do we keep lying to this world? Laying off the teachers and cutting the funds that are used to educate this world. Lost. Angry. Perplexed. It’s jarring to me. Makes me want to plant this mic on the highest mountain and scream out to this country. Love. Understanding. Patience. Hope. Faith. Brotherhood. Revelation. Jesus walked this earth. Religious? Please consult your congregation. And it’s all wrapped up in politics. Media. Propaganda. Censorship. It’s all on-demand. Why cheat me out of the truth when pieces are scattered across Facebook and YouTube. Susan no longer needs an investigator, she can scan her cheating husband’s boob tube. No privacy. Out there for all to see. Like this and instagram that. Your date can’t remember your last name, but wants you to sext back. All ready for the plunge after only 1 pic. Holding my hand is too much, but you’re willing to come over to suck my d*ck? Ever heard of an STD? How about HIV? It may just be me, but I’m lost for words. No wonder so much of today’s hit music is about disloyal hos and saving bullshit for the birds. There is no learning in these lessons. It’s ok to not be spiritual, but still count your blessings. How about capitalism? I’m gassed out. War and terrorism or war on terrorism? I’m passed out. Poverty is very real. The economy is on the brink of being cashed out. And yet we are still the most powerful country. But at what costs? Is it all worth the risk of defamation and the loss of our humanity. Is it a good thing to lose humility? Call me naive, but I’d be foolish to not question the contingencies. And, then there’s global warming and something about the glaciers melting world-wide. But what makes front page news? Kanye West and his Kardashian bride. Some may not even know that Abraham Lincoln is the 16th president. Do we really know history? The true story without the embellishment? The slave trade, the Holocaust, Alice Paul and Rosa Parks. Should I even mention Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X?  I recently heard someone ask how a train fit through the underground rail road. On television non-the-less. And this is what we broadcast to our children (our future leaders). I believe the correct text response is “SMH,” I digress…