"Hide your schools. Hide your homes. Hide your children 'cause he's wrecking it all," TEAM Englewood, a Chicago youth-poetry group, warns in a poem directed at Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his policies.
The youth-poetry group recited the poem earlier this month during the semifinals of the youth-poetry competition Louder Than a Bomb, the largest youth poetry festival in the world, CBS Chicago reports.
"I want to show people how twisted politics can really be," David Holmes, a TEAM Englewood poet, told the station. "Rahm Emanuel says we have no money for schools, but we have money to build a new DePaul stadium and other stuff downtown?"
The students are also angry about the city’s recent decision to close scores of schools and health clinics and the city's decision to build a railroad freight yard in Englewood, a predominantly black densely populated community on Chicago's Side Side.
They attend TEAM Englewood Community Academy, a public school in a community that is known for its crime and violence. Besides Holmes, other team members include Dallas Battle, Kenyatta Tolbert and Alicia Hinton.
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The poem's title was borrowed from a television news interview several years ago with Alabama resident Antoine Dodson, who called out an intruder after he broke into their home and tried to assault his sister. The video went viral because of Dodson’s expressive and colorful language.
Read more at CBS Chicago.