The Menace of Lead

• Author: Barry E. Hill
• Pages: 3-3

The Menace of Lead

Of the living dead poisoned by lead.

From paint chips and soldered water pipe,

Making parents in older homes real uptight.

Lead from father’s clothes,

Just home from work oppressed with woes.

Who is the blame,

For this shame.

Of poisoning our children,

Causing all this confusion,

Making them welfare bound,

To be treated like hounds.

Eyes glazed over and lost for ever,

Functioning to mental capacity never.

Inner city kids exposed to lead ,

Millions have much to dread.

Lead poisoning creating anger and despair,

Maybe resulting in court proceeding because cheating,

Stealing, and beating.

Ending in prison term,

For failure to compete and learn.

Black African souls 80% of prison country,

We cannot write o because of bigotry.

Prison systems are new forms of apartheid,

Environmental racism amplied.

Jailed are more black males on a per capita basis,

an in South Africa with all their racists.

If we cared and had a heart,

We would fund head start.

Rather than $80,00 0.00 per year for one in Jackson Prison,

More expensive than the University of Michigan.

e eects of lead is insidious,

But I don’t want you to pity us,

Or to get rid of us by poisoning us.

But to use your might to do what’s right,

Equal protection of the law is a civil right,

Redistribution of resources will change our plight.1

—Bunyan Bryant, Ph.D.

Professor, Environmental Justice Scholar & Researcher

University of Michigan School of Natural Resources

1. Bunyan Bryant’s Personal Home Page, Poems, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbryant/poems1.html.