Born To Rule

Footprints From The Ghetto

"Don't you talk back to me!" I walk down the street and see women being torn apart in society and no one seems to care. They are being bullied, beatened, verbally abused and raped by our men and they continue to do it because they can.

What happened to our strong women?

They seemed to fade when a lot of men stepped up to become the dominant one and women just sit and let them. I'm just 19 and I can't do nothing. Who would listen to a 19 year old black girl who lives in a patriarchal society? No Body.

This man in front of men pulled the woman by her hair and told her to get in the car. That's probably the last time anybody around here will see her because she will probably end up dead somewhere. They hopped in the car and drove off.

Every chance I get, I get out of the house and walk down the street or hang with my friends because I can't stay in the house and listen to my daddy try to get me married off to a Chauvinist nigga. A lot of men in the neighborhood wants me and I just don't want to be married off to a stranger and have to live in hell for the rest of my life.

I don't have a car because my father said that only my husband should have a car for our home. I don't have no other source of transportation because I'm too fucking old to ride a bike and there is no way in hell that ima get my black ass on a skateboard.

But some places I just can't go to because they either treat women the worse or it's racist. So either way, ima get treated terrible. I live in the ghetto part of Augusta, Georgia where it's strong with male patriots. It's been that way for decades and I always dreamed of running away from this place but how am I going to survive when I have no car or no money because I can't get a job. No place around here will offer a young girl a job except prostitution and a lot of girls go into that to get quick cash but they are never seen again.

Three of my friends died from going in the prostitution business and getting murdered by the pimp when they cross the line. That's what I'm scared of happening to me is a pimp killing me when I stop working for him. That's why I don't even want to attempt to get in the business. I know theres a future for me somewhere away from here.

"Hey, girl...come over here." Pork Rib Tha Pimp been tryna recruit me since I was fucking 12 and this nigga is still around here! That's what I'm saying! The same folks stay in Augusta forever!

He was at least 35 with gold teeth and flashy jewelry. He was tall like Idris Elba and nowhere near attractive like him. "I'm tryna to get to the crib." He shook his head. "Baby, you know you do not want to go to that place. You need some cash?!?" He pulled out a wad of 20's and 50's. I did need some money but not from this thirsty nigga who's been tryna get in my pants since birth. "No thank you Pork Rib." I felt somebody pull me away and thank The Lord it was my homegirl!

Rema Klev-Thompson was my ride or die Russian bitch and she was always there to have a sista's back. Her parents were both Russians and she got adopted by a black family that she's been living with since birth. Her black father, Tito was in the Army in Russia and brought her home because her parents abandoned her on the street because she was a girl.

We were both secretly Feminist and we were the masterminds who started our secret Feminist club here. Our Feminist club included 23 girls already, but they all from school and some girls that live in the neighborhood. We met at our hang out every chance that we got. We wanted more members but that caused risk because all 25 of us was real tight and had each other's backs. We didn't want no traitors coming in and not being loyal to the sisterhood because that could get us thrown in jail because of what we stood for.

We were Feminist always.

"Girl...I knew you needed some saving from Pork Rib." "Thank you!" Me and Rema suppose to be at school but I didn't feel like going to Mr. Bean's class because he was so discriminatory to the girls in there. He never called on us and when we did our work, he would be so picky on the answers. He was our Economics teacher and we didn't need his "Mr. Rodgers" ass to pass. "Girl...Sweet Tea is by the Brickhouse Pizza flirting again!" Rema pointed at our other homegirl Sweet Tea.