Let's Take A Stand

Cierra Gibson
MLK High School 11th Grade Student

Stop and listen, we are supposed to be the future leaders now and forever, not the future killers or drug dealers. We listen to these rappers and that say all these things in their raps about where they live. Did they really grow up in the hood, or were they raised in working parents? They have money and live in big mansions., but they portray themselves as violent criminals. Yes, some glorify committing crimes, but the ones that do commit crime, sometimes get away with it because they have money. Some don’t and have to serve time in jail. Some individuals sometimes think that they can get away with crimes from watching videos, but when someone in the community commits a crime they will more than likely service time in prison. When celebrity rappers get shot, the police hurry up and try to find out who shot them, but the average individual has to wait to find out.

I am here to tell you to stop and think before you commit a crime. Do you say to yourself, “what will happen to me if I do this?” Can I do the time if I get caught doing the crime? Is this a good decision and who am I hurting and why. I am tired of hearing about people dying and getting hurt with weapons because they had a conflict earlier or shot someone for no apparent reason or possibly been in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the lyrics to a song say, “We are supposed to make a brighter day.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the people that marched with him did not use violence to show their opinion, they used words. That’s what we suppose to do, show with words not weapons