Voice Project: giving those with a voice a place to speak

#VoiceProject (follow on Instagram)

 
Over the past few years I’ve tried to extend the boundaries of my voice as a writer. I’ve tried writing on controversial topics or looking for inspiration in romantic places, but my experience has taught me a few valuable lessons:

 

1.       Most people do not care about what you have to say unless they can directly connect with it. Unless it is real and at the same time reveals an understanding of humanity.

2.       You will not truly understand yourself until you make it a point to understand others first.

3.       The people who have the most to say often say the least, usually because they aren't given a chance or they are worried nobody will listen.

 

Most of what we hear today, be it music or broadcasts on various media outlets, is selfish. People talk about themselves. A lot. Musicians talk about their struggle or how hard they work. People advocate for a love of critics and a disregard for public opinion. What they fail to realize, however, is that without other people, we would have no purpose. They also fail to realize that, pardon my sincerity, nobody cares.
 
Over my spring break (from Denver to Chicago and back), I wanted to start a project that would give a voice to those who don’t typically get to speak. It’s easy for me, a high school English teacher raised in a middle-class, predominantly white area, to stand up and speak for myself.
 
What I should be doing, however, is standing up and speaking for those who can’t.
 
Over the next month, I hope to compile a list of great people I meet and give you a glimpse into their lives. Good people still exist, but people won’t believe it (like they won’t believe most things) without cold, hard proof. I intend to provide that proof, and I invite you to join.
 
Please follow me on this journey (I have named Voice Project), not for me, but for the people I meet. I would love for you to share your own, too. Share stories/poetry/art of anyone you think deserves to be heard (or seen), and simply tag it with the hash tag #VoiceProject.
 
Anyway, enough of me. Let the sharing begin:
 
Name: Bernard Lee
Denver, CO
March 27, 2014
 
Bernard just arrived to Denver from Chicago two weeks ago, not long after his release from prison. “I needed change,” he said. “I kept getting into the same old [stuff]. I made horrible decisions.”
 
Bernard’s rough life began while he was growing up in a group home in Chicago. “[The people in charge] took advantage of me because I was smart, and everyone else in the house, except a few people, were mentally insane. Literally insane,” Bernard said. “How am I supposed to maximize who I am in that environment?” Bernard said the only reason he made it out was because he “did everything they asked, no questions. Even if it meant selling drugs. Shit, they would smoke and drink with me. I was just a kid. And they’re supposed to be helping me?”
 
At 19, Bernard was locked up for selling drugs. He did five more stints over the next 12 years. Now, he’s 31 and trying to find his way in Denver.
 
“I was meant to help people. My mother was a Jehova’s witness. Helping people is in my blood.”

With a passion to escape the Midwest and all that it brought him, Bernard walks the streets of Denver searching for shelters that will provide him with opportunities to help.

I asked him if he ever wrote about it. He smiled, and over a Gyro from a cart on the sidewalk, Bernard shared his poem “I’m Tired” with me. When he spoke, his brown eyes opened wider than I’m sure they had in a long time. Each line conjured some trial he endured back East, and his lips puckered to his teeth. During the 40 seconds it took for him to share his poem (completely from memory), Bernard Lee was as honest as he’s ever been. He wanted to write it down (so I wouldn’t take credit for it) and have me record it, which I did. Friend me on Facebook (Jacob William) to see it.

“I just have so much pain,” he says. “I just need to change the environment around me. Your environment can run your life. My environment made me this way. That’s why I’m in Denver. To change. To make something of myself.”

 
Bernard’s poem is below.
 
“I’m Tired”
by: Bernard Lee
 
I’m tired of this pain,
I catch enough just to go insane,
But instead of giving a frown
I smile the smile of a crazed clown.
 
Some people say I’m as soft as a cloud,
Some people say I’m the golden child
Just a little more buck wild.
 
It’s time for a change.
 
It’s time to stop thinking with my d***
and using my brain
But when I use my brain, all I see
Is these dirty hoes tryin’ to play me.
 
What I was taught—there’s nothing stronger than game,
And just as damage does glass
I know words can bring pain,
You do wrong once, it’ll come back twice.
 
Now it’s my turn to roll the dice.