Guns shoots falling like rain drops, everybody getting wet. Last month a little black boy got shot in the chest, granting his mother’s worst nightmare. How many more parents will be alive to see their children’s death? How many little brothers will lose their older brothers, how many little girls will grow up without sisters or mothers because of a stray bullet? Niggas wanna be cool with straps until somebody lose it and they realize gunplay was never a game. You only get one life and it shouldn’t end with click clack or a bang. Musicians glamorize this lifestyle but I speak from experience, because when I was younger I too was very curious. I hung out with the big kids and tried to be cool until shots rang out like the end of military school. Five shots… luckily they all missed me but not everybody was as fortunate you see, my cousin got hit… and to this day he still walks with a limp. But he thanks God that he has lived to see another day and I pray you all do the same. So instead of aiming for each other, I pray that y’all Aim for Change.
Background: Chalice aka Nenwon Gbilia wrote this poem for an event entitled Aim for Change which was a talented list of performers with pieces all which were relevant to gun violence. The event was extremely successful in raising awareness getting people to pledge to aiming for change.
Photographer: Crystal Smith. Find more of her work at Cvptureimages