Red Hook Summer Page #6

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-l thank God for the white snow.

-ALL:
Yeah!

l thank God for the red heat.

(ALL WHOOPlNG)

Ooh, it's hot up in here, ain't it?

-ALL:
Yeah!

-(ORGAN PLAYlNG)

Oh, it's hot up in here.

-lt's hot all over the city.

-ALL:
Yes, it is.

-Record heat!

-ALL:
Yeah!

Ain't it record... lt's record heat!

-ALL:
Yeah!

You know, just 1 2 blocks from here,

down there at Brooklyn Terminal.

ALL:
Uh-huh!

Those cruise ships are docked

blowing out thick black smoke,

giving our children asthma

and whatever else

they can poison the air with.

-For them folks, it's cool down there.

-MAN:
Uh-huh.

Would that somebody walk on down there

to the Queen Mary 2 and say,

(CLlCKlNG TONGUE)

"Excuse me.

(ALL LAUGHlNG)

"Would y'all mind turning off them engines,

"because it's hot in the Hook?

(ALL AGREElNG)

"Or give us some of that cool you got."

ALL:
Yeah!

Right?

But, you know,

we live in a world of "should not be."

(ORGAN PLAYlNG)

lt should not be

that little girls from around here

go to school at 1 2 years old

with classmates who are pregnant.

lt should not be!

(ALL AGREElNG)

And then they sit

in classrooms of 40 or more,

and have four different teachers in one year,

because the teachers keep quitting.

lt should not be!

(ALL AGREElNG)

lt should not be that radio and television

and videos and movies

define who our boys are.

(ALL AGREElNG)

lt should not be!

So they put gold in their mouths.

They wear pants that don't fit.

They paint their bodies in tattoos,

so the only job they can get

is pro ball or rap.

lt should not be!

You know,

these projects are full of baby mamas.

(CROWD MURMURlNG)

Yes.

And there's a difference... Listen to me now.

There's a difference between a baby mama

and a single mother.

-ALL:
Amen!

-Yes.

A single mother is

trying to be with her baby.

(ALL AGREElNG)

But a baby mama is

trying to be with whomever else

she can be to forget

that she got a baby at home.

(ALL AGREElNG)

And then the baby's gotta deal with

the boy that the baby mama

brings back to the crib.

And he a baby himself,

calling himself a man.

He ain't no man!

And Grandma's raising them all.

When she should be retired,

after a life of long and hard work.

-Slaving from can't see in the morning...

-(ORGAN WAlLS)

-...to can't see at night!

-(ORGAN WAlLS)

And it should not be!

(ORGAN PLAYlNG)

But, oh, my God is a great God.

-(ALL AGREElNG)

-(PEOPLE CLAPPlNG)

These young folks,

they don't know theyselves!

But, look here, turn to Luke 9:55-56.

lt says, "Ye know not

what manner of spirit ye are of.

"For the Son of man is come

not to destroy men's lives,

"but to save them."

(ALL AGREElNG)

All you got to do is come to Jesus.

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