Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community

Intro:
Youth Radio has been chronicling the violence in Oakland, and the experiences of young residents.

What you are about to hear is a street corner conversation from East Oakland, documented by Youth Radio. The voices belong to Gerald Ward The Second, Bianca Yarborough, her mother Bridget Taylor, and the poet Ise Lyfe.

Script:
Poem: Rome and Net Net Intro
I?m here today to tell a story. A twisted story of ghetto glory. Now, I know you heard of Romeo and Juliet, but I bet you?ve never heard of Rome and Net Net. See, their story is a bit different. A bit more explicit. So sad, almost all bad, young and beautiful and don?t even know? Society tell him to be a thug, tell her to be a ho? They victims of a system placed on us years ago.

Street Scene/70th Avenue/Gerald and Bianca:
Gerald: Where are we right now, Bianca?
Bianca: 78th avenue.
Gerald: What do you see?
Bianca: Liquor stores, nail shops, there?s a whole bunch of people out in the street socializing.
Gerald: This your neighborhood?
Bianca: Yeah.I try not to go outside at night. Because you never know you might get killed.

Poem: Net Net at the bus stop
Let me tell you how Rome and Net Net first met. She was standing at the bus stop, sucking on a lollypop, short skirt, short top ? ?Girl you need to stop! You wearing summer clothes and it ain?t even hot!? Net Net ain?t the only one to blame. A number of things make her do what she do. Her mama was never really there. Her dad died.when she was 2. Yet and still up she grew. And out she grew. Maybe a little too fast because the drunk men on the corner said, ?Damn girl, look at you?re a--.? And she laughed, not knowing she being disrespected. She looked up and see Rome coming from the other direction.

Street Scene/Bianca neighborhood description and Mom?s reflections on violence
Bianca: When I get off the bus, all I see is a prostitute on the corner who?s pregnant, and who?s probably 20 something years old and that?s just depressing. It?s like, dang, she has so much she could do so much more of her live, but she just choose to stand on the corner and sell her body. The homicide rate keeps climbing and you can?t just live because its affecting everybody. I mean, you never know if that bullet is gonna come and hit one of your children.

Bianca?s mom: I guess right now we?re at a point where I don?t like my child to be out at night, because, stray bullets are everywhere. You know I had a visitor at my home and stray bullets hit the car, and it could have easily been a person, so its not a very fair situation.

Poem: Rome and Net Net meet and flirt
Now here come Rome, fronting on his cellular phone, cause his credit got denied when he tried to get it turned on. Looking dumb, with weed in his socks, crack in his gums, he walk down the street throwing up, where you from. He see Net Net, pretends to hang his phone up. He touch his pager like it?s being blown up. He said, ?Damn, baby girl, what?s your name? What?s your steeze? Why you got that skirt on, it?s only 40 degrees!? She said, ?Please!? But she was getting sick, so she sneezed. She said, ?Ha CHOO!? He said, ?Bless you.? She said, ?Naw, forget you! You don?t know me well enough to be talking about my clothes and all that kind of stuff.? ?My bad, baby girl, I?m just looking out for your health. By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Rome. Can we chop it up, talk on the phone?? ?No, why?? ?Why? Cause you fine, and I know you tired ?cause all day you?ve walking through my mind.? No, he didn?t use that tired line, but? She?s trippin, so you know what she say? ?Okay, that?s so sweet. You?re the man I always wanted to meet!?

Street Scene/Gerald talks about Dating and Bianca describes Playing in Oakland
Gerald: My girlfriend and I have only been together 2-3 weeks. We come from such the same background in Oakland. Her mom lives on 94th, my mom lives on 23rd. It?s interesting because when we were younger, I was kinda a square. We could have been friends, but I also could have been someone that she thought was square. I used to carry a briefcase to school and I wanted to be a scientist. Then, I wanted to be a stockbroker. I wasn?t trying to be a thug at all.

Gerald: When you were younger, did you used to go outside and play?
Bianca: Yeah. I mean, I used to live in the east, on the 23rd, and I played all the time, but I wasn?t really aware of the things that were happening.

POEM: Rome Dies in Drug Deal, Net Net commits Suicide
Net Net get pregnant. 9 months later, the saddest day of the year, she?s holding this beautiful baby girl, but her face drops tears as she sings her daughter a sad lullaby song cause Rome died in a drug deal gone terribly wrong. You see, Rome died, never got to see his newborn baby girls? eyes. Now, he?s not there to wipe the tears from Net Net?s eyes. Net Net puts down the baby, the baby cries, Net Net goes in the kitchen and gets a kitchen knife. Net Net slits her wrists not once, Net Net slits her wrists twice. Suicide?

Street Scene: Bianca reflects on what to do
Bianca: The only time you talk to your neighbors is if you see them outside and you say ?hello? and ?goodnight.? You never talk about real issues. Things that are important. You can?t always like wait around and think that everyone else is gonna do it. You need to take some action for yourself and I think we kinda lost that, our generation?

POEM: Rome and Net Net Daughter Repeats the Cycle
At 10 years old, the daughter says both my parents died. At 13, she curses the parents she never really knew, ?Forget my mama and my daddy, forget him too!? And at 16, she?s standing at the bus stop, sucking on a lollipop short skirt, short top, cause ya?ll we need to stop. We be wearing summer clothes like it ain?t even hot. Leaving our problems to be solved by somebody else. Then we wonder why history always repeats itself. Repeats itself. Why history always repeats itself. Rome and Net Nets in 62, 72, 82, 92, and now in 2002, because through all the madness, we laugh at the ghetto kids on the bus stop. Peace?

Back Announce: The poet is 19-year-old Ise Lyfe. He performs with Youth Speaks, a poetry project in San Francisco. The story was produced by Youth Radio.