**
        I have witnessed every extraordinary experience he has
brought upon us, every string he has bent has changed the
        way we now view music. The passion - the glory Jimi
Hendrix has brought into my eyes and the lives of future
        musicians.

        I have witnessed Malcolm-X's words. The roots of my
history and the foundation of the African-American man.
        I have witnessed King's and Gandhi's teachings of nonviolent
protests and to love every one of our enemies because hate
        can be conquered with love after all.

        I have witnessed the beatings and killings of innocent people
only wanting their human rights, I have witnessed
        evil at it's purest form - the look in their eyes - the atrocious
words that seep out of their mouths. The inhumane thoughts
        that people so often have, I have witnessed a human with no
soul.

        I have witnessed the execution of an innocent man suspected
of being a Viet Cong sympathizer. I have witnessed the first
        Buddhist monk to set himself on fire to protest the policies
of the Ngo Dinh Diem. I have witnessed the limit of knowledge
        and education in our school systems, the inaccurate, blind patriotism,
and outright lies of our history textbooks.

        I have witnessed the horrors of the ghettos -- the fatal drive-by's
the bullets to the head, the chest, and the throat. I have witnessed
        and experienced the needle in my companion's arm, the worries
and disappointments of life and the drug to make them all disperse
        from my mind. // mothers at the corner with their 12 month old
babies begging for at least a dime. I have witnessed children
        going on four days without any food or water -- I have witnessed
babies found in garbage bags because their mothers weren't
        financially built to take care of them. I have heard the fetus crying
in it's mother's stomach when she decided to get an abortion. I have
heard a child screaming for her life wishing the bullet would not touch her.
        Every child we kill -- Is one leader less.

        I have witnessed censorship from "writers" and what to write
about and how to portray my feelings. I have witnessed "poets" at
        their highest ranks, the tyranny they lay upon us - us being the most
educated intelligent human beings to walk this earth. Us
        being the light of the future, we as poets speak about the unknown,
we as poets speak what no other man has the courage to speak about
        but yet I am forbidden to speak my mind. Before I do ask to speak
my mind I shall first ask for my

        h
                u
                        m
                                a
                                        n

rights.

The rights I have failed to witness and enjoy, the rights that probably will
never become.

        But out of all the loathsome situations and actions I have seen,
I have witnessed love.
        not lust but love, the type of love and romance that
is illegal and forbidden by the jealous.
        This passion I plan on sharing with you all in the future.
The future of freedom in which I am shackled.
        Cuffed by the only thing I cry. Tears.

**