Crew

Hey let's be honest. I miss the south. The-the-the family, the love, the soul food, the proximity. It is the place that birthed me and raised me into the Jody I am today. All of the racism, the sexism, the closed-mindedness, the humidity, the Willacoochee accents slathered with some Twiggs County slang. Oh lord,

It was not until I got to Denver and stayed for a few weeks that I realized how special below the Mason-Dixon line was to me. I have ran over 1,000 miles in the 303 in the past year, and have yet to be called a nigger or monkey or get heckled by my fellow people. In fact, I can't even remember how many times I was cheered on running down 16th Street Mall at 2am in the morning on a Saturday. But while in the south, where I have lived 94.8% of my life, I don't remember how many times I was verbally attacked by being called a nigger or monkey or get heckled by my fellow people.

Yes I count being called a nigger while running in Gloucester Point, Virginia at 8 am, a verbal attacked. I don't remember the kids face (most white people look the same to me and of course I call grown men kids when they act accordingly) even though I stared them down as they sped off in their '02 Ranger.

Couldn't even run in Portsmouth at 5am without black folk looking at me like I'm suspect. I remember not running in Portsmouth just because I thought someone might physically attacked me. Because I was warned while in the barber shop to not run near Norcom high school.

These things happen, right? I should be conditioned at this point to be tolerant of ignorance. It wouldn't dare happen to Denver, as I blare out "Crew" by Goldlink and Co., making strides along Welton Street. Maybe Denver did a better job at suppressing its ignorance by ignoring it? If you don't see ignorance or interact with it, those things just disappear through natural selection right? Right,

"Crew" by Goldlink ft. Brent Faiyaz & Shy Glizzy reminds me of the east coast and the nostalgia of the south.