Reagan's Dead

- by Yolanda Carrington

There I am, folks---a four-year-old girl/baby/child
Standing too close to the Zenith set
Watching President Reagan speak to somebody about something
There I was, a four-year-old girl/kid/little sista
Watching Reagan, The President, talk to me

The first President I remember
The first politician I ever seen
The first White man I knew by name
The first public figure I ever knew

Reagan was the Father of us All---so it seemed to me

The old folks said he was just an actor, So he acted like Our Father
Like millions of American men who act like Our Fathers
He played a role, His Role
Written not by him, but by General Electric, and James Watt, and Barry Goldwater, and Jesse Helms (Uncle Jesse!) and Richard Nixon and Nancy Davis and then by Air Traffic Comrades and Chicago Black Mothers and Raleigh White Fathers and the Union Bosses and the Contras and the Sandinistas and Chapel Hill liberal-Nigga-lovin'-Commies and Mister Crack Cocaine and the Big Black Ghetto and the Lovely White Suburbs and the Wretched-Ever Wretched Prison

America needs Ronald Reagan 'cause America needs a Man to be in Total Control
Of us and Our House
We all need a good White man to tell us what to do/to pat us on the head
To tell us what is right, to scare away the Enemy/Whoever He/She/They may be
Quadafi in Tripoli
Shaniqua in Chicago
Commies in Russia/Commies in China/Commies in Nicaragua/ Commies in Grenada/Commies in North Korea/Commies at UNC-Chapel Hill/or UCLA/or Northwestern/or Hunter College/or in the Unions/ or in the Ghetto----Commies Everywhere!

Yolanda Carrington is a junior at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. She's majoring in History. You can email her at ycarr58@yahoo.com