To the teacher, social worker, politician, and critic who wonders why People of 'Color' continue to be disadvantaged.

I WONDER

You wonder why I drink, do drugs, steal, rob and kill.
You wonder why I don't care about your opportunities.
You wonder why I won't enlist in the SERVICE.
You wonder why I won't go to college.
You wonder why I drop out of high school.
You wonder why I'm always in jail.
You wonder why I'm always pregnant.
You wonder why I'm always poor.

I wonder why there's a liquor store on every block in my neighborhood.
I wonder why the CIA would have a vested interest in keeping me addicted to crack.
I wonder why if I steal a slice of pizza I get life imprisonment,
and if you steal 1.9 billion dollars you get a pardon.
I wonder why after 200 years of preferential treatment YOU have the nerve to tell ME to stay in school, and yet you eliminate affirmative action.
I wonder why they continue to teach me that Lincoln freed the slaves, and Columbus discovered America.
I wonder why they refuse to teach me my own history.
I wonder why poor Blacks and Chicanos are receiving preferential treatment in America's penal institutions.
I wonder why you refuse to teach sex education in the name of family values, but accuse us of single parenthood, teenage pregnancies, and abortion.

I wonder why my people pay a higher percentage of taxes, while you receive tax incentives.

I wonder why 'news at 11' had my mother as the top story as a 'welfare queen,'
when we all know that the largest recipients of welfare are your corporations.
I wonder how it is that you have the nerve to question why I'm poor,
broke, in jail, drunk, or on crack.
I wonder how it is that you even blame me for the problems that you created.
I wonder?

   I wonder,
shouldn't you?


Written by: Cesar A. Cruz