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From what I’ve gathered, 8th grade was a rough year for seemingly everybody. I don’t ever seem to hear someone saying, “man, 8th grade? Middle school? The best, hands down.” That never happens. However, just like everything in life, 8th grade wasn’t all bad. There were two major things in the 8th grade that made it okay for me:

1. Our class trip to Boston
2. Mrs. Odom’s English class

Today, I’m going to be talking about the latter of the two. Going into 8th grade, I was so nervous. Mrs. Odom was known for being a tough teacher. Difficult grades, strict rules, no-nonsense. You know the type. I’ve always loved English, but I was a fidgety kid who spoke loudly and got distracted way too easily, so I knew I was going to have to work in her class.

Folks, I quickly grew to love her class and respect her, both as a teacher and as a person.

Mrs. Odom was a huge part of my formative years as a young writer and scholar. That English class and later a Speech class I took with her shaped a lot of the things that come naturally to me now. Especially our unit on poetry.

I went to a predominately white school in a very white area with a pretty white upbringing. Representation of minorities was not a part of my reality. Not because the people around me were necessarily unbalanced, but simply because that sort of exposure to diversity wasn’t very present.

Mrs. Odom had us read Nikki Giovanni’s “All Eyez On U,” which was Giovanni’s homage to Tupac Shakur after his death in 1996. To tell the truth, I hadn’t heard of Nikki Giovanni. I hadn’t even heard of Tupac. We read this poem six years ago and to this day it’s stuck with me because it opened the door to a world of Black artists, politicians, musicians, and people in general.

as I tossed and turned unable to achieve sleep unable to control

anxiety unable to comprehend why

2Pac is not with us

if those who lived by the sword died by the sword there would be no

white men on earth

if those who lived on hatred died on hatred there would be no KKK

if those who lived by lies died by lies there would be nobody on wall

street in executive suites in academic offices instructing the young

don’t tell me he got what he deserved   he deserved a chariot and

the accolades of a grateful people

he deserved his life

it is as clear as a mountain stream as defining as a lightning strike

as terrifying as sun to vampires

2Pac told the truth

there were those who called it dirty   gansta rap inciting there were

those who never wanted to be    angry at the conditions but angry

 at the messenger who reported:      your kitchen has roaches your toi-

let is overflowing your basement has so much water the rats are in the

living room

your house is in disorder

and 2Pac told you about it

what a beautiful boy graceful carriage melodic voice sharp wit intel-

lectual breadth what a beautiful boy to lose

not me   never me    I do not believe east coast west coast     I saw

them murder Emmett Till I saw them murder Malcolm X    I saw

them murder    Martin Luther King    I witnessed them shooting

Rap Brown I saw them beat LeRoi Jones    I saw them fill their jails

I see them burning churches    not me   never me    I do not believe

this is some sort of mouth action     this is some sort of political

action and they picked well     they picked the brightest freshest

fruit from the tallest tree     what a beautiful boy

but he did not go away     as Malcolm did not go away      as Emmett

Till did not go away       your shooting him will not take him from us

his spirit will fill our hearts     his courage will strengthen us for the

challenge     his truth will straighten our backbones

you know, Socrates had a mother      she too watched her son drink

hemlock    she too asked why     but Socrates stood firm and would

not lie to save himself       2Pac has a mother     the lovely Afeni had

to bury her son    it is not right

it is not right that this young warrior is cut down     it is not right for

the old to bury the young    it is not right

this generation mourns 2Pac as my generation mourned Till as we

all mourn Malcolm     this wonderful young warrior

Sonia Sanchez said when she learned of his passing she walked all day

walking the beautiful warrior home to our ancestors I just cried as all

mothers cry for the beautiful boy who said he and Mike Tyson would

never be allowed ti be free at the same time who told the truth about

them and who told the truth about us who is our beautiful warrior

there are those who wanted to make him the problem     who wanted

to believe if they silenced 2Pac all would be quiet on the ghetto

front there are those who testified that the problem wasn’t the con-

ditions but the people talking about them

they took away band    so the boys started scratching they took away

gym      so  the boys started break dancing the boys started rapping

cause they gave them the guns and the drugs but not the schools and

libraries

what a beautiful boy to lose

and we mourn 2Pac Shakur and we reach out to his mother and we

hug ourselves in sadness and shame

and we are compelled to ask:

R U Happy, Mz Tucker? 2Pac is gone

R U Happy?