The Inside Dope

Given the present state o' affairs in our fair city it's a wonder that life is as tranquil as it's been all week. Kids are goin' back to schools where they don't have sports or music playin' programs no more, even if they do manage to stick it out the system they're supposed t' join when they graduate can't provide any kind of jobs for more than half of 'em.

The figure's only 20% for youngsters in the suburbs, which gives ya a couple things to think about right off the top. One outa five white kids, one outa every two black kids can't find work o' any kind, and you can imagine 'swell as I can what kind o' work they got for most o' th' ones who can get a job.

Well, if ya can't work there's always welfare, an' if you can't stand the humiliation there's always heroin, an' if you turn t' dope there's all them houses an' cars t' be broken into so you can pay th' narcotics man for the relief he brings you, an' he can report back to his partners in the police station house that he's got another customer to help 'em line their pockets with.

Then the police get up an' talk about law 'n order while they're refusin' to protect the citizens o' the neighborhoods where their job takes 'em, an' the rowdy characters in the neighborhoods start gettin' uppity an' all, runnin' around terrorizin' folks just because they can get away with it.

You can take ol' Iffy's word for it - there's nothin' normal about this situation at all, an' anybody who ain't completely crazy has t' have some kind o' compassion in their heart for th' victims o' this disgustin' social order.

O' course I ain't suggestin' that thugs o' any age should have t' be tolerated by anybody, but wavin' a finger in their face ain't gonna solve nothin' either. It's about time folks started wakin' up an' lookin at what's happenin' around 'em, because the persons who put 'em in this nasty trick bag are not gonna be the ones who take the pressure off - not until common folks start pullin' together and make 'em change things around to suit the majority of the people.

Until then the real thugs who have destroyed this city over the past thirty years - the big manufacturers, the banks, the universities an' the urban renewers, the HUD crooks an' their rap partners in the real estate agencies - will continue to run roughshod over anybody they want to, an' no single person or group of people can possible stop 'em.

In other words, if you'll permit an old man to speak his mind on somethin' that means everything to him, the citizens o' this city can either start takin' matters into their own hands an' straightenin' 'em out for themselves, or they can stand by while the big money grabbers take the rest o' what we got left an' leave us to starve in their wake.

If you think they don't mean t' do just that, keep your mouth shut an' watch their smoke, because you can bet that they ain't just sittin' around wonderin' what to do right now. They got their plan all mapped out, an' the longer we keep on goin' along with it, the bigger fools we make o' ourselves.

Well, a word to the wise, like we used t' say...