Ode to the Cell Phone
Lew Rosenbaum
We were sitting
in Royal Coffee
talking about
Ferguson, Missouri
cops killing
a young
black man
unarmed
in the act of surrender
shooting him six times,
we were reading the
newspaper story
written by people
no different
than you
and I
a man and woman
outraged by events
wanting, needing
to give voice to
ordinary people
in the pages of
the People’s Tribune
When through the window
we saw a late 90s
oldsmobile
cruise around the corner
come to a stop on Pratt
right there
across the street
under the amber
street light
followed by,
pulled over by
a blue-light special SUV.
Two cops stepped down
from their perch,
approached the olds
the one on the driver’s side
barked a command
and the driver
hands on the dashboard
an attitude that screamed
“I’ll do whatever you want
but see I don’t have a gun”
sat back
opened the door
with one hand
while keeping the other
in plain sight
gingerly planted his feet
outside onto the ground
slowly stood
then reached in his pocket
for his license,
the whole
scene
choreographed
like a liquid
tango.
A young woman
rides around the corner
on her bicycle,
dressed in shorts
this late summer day,
carrying her back pack
on her way home
from work?
or school?
mouth watering
as she almost smells
the barbecue waiting
on the table,
perhaps dreaming
of her children’s smiles,
gap toothed,
welcoming her home
but she stops short
to watch the
grim scene play out
the traffic stop
across from Royal Coffee
maybe it’s
more than it seems,
she reaches into her jacket
withdraws her cell phone
from her pocket
and records
the transaction
This time this wasn’t
Roshad McIntosh
Charles Brown
Ezell Ford
DeSean Pittman
But she was ready
to record
and spread
the news if
the unspeakable
happened
bring us all
into the conversation
dig deep
into the groove of
our common humanity
demand our response
possibilities
we could not dream about
a decade ago
bring us all together.
Think about it!
Were there others
peering from the
apartment windows,
cell phones in hand,
ready to record
testify
indict?
Think about it!
That electronic technology
that chains us today
in the prison of
unemployment lines
what could it do
in the hands
of the people
what spirit it could unleash!
what possibilities accomplish!
what wounds it could heal!
Chicago Labor & Arts Festival Blog 
