Both:
When it comes to motherhood (fatherhood)
I do not hesitate to say that I would want to raise all boys.
I would want to be a mother (father) to all sons.

Rudy:
If I’ve learned anything about being a man,
It is that being a father is designed to be a contact sport
and far too many of us retire before we even see what the field looks like.

Terisa:
If I’ve learned anything about being a woman,
it’s that no matter how empowering I seem
My existence was designed to never stand a chance.

Both:
When the state of Ohio found two sixteen year old boys guilty of raping a sixteen year old girl,

Terisa:
Both boys cried their eyes out moments after the verdict

Rudy:
Every major media news outlet coddled them
instead of the girl they raped.

Terisa:
CNN was grieving over the death of their futures in football.
Both:
They said nothing of the cemetery growing inside the body of the girl.
Nothing of the graveyard where she would bury her trust in men.
Rape culture is the worst kind of teacher our kids are learning the most from.

Terisa:
It teaches women that it is their responsibility to not get raped.

Rudy:
It teaches men that ‘boys will be boys’.

Both:
It teaches us that a short skirt and a smile is ‘asking for it’.
It teaches us that it’s not wrong unless someone comes to her rescue.
And this, this is why I want all boys

Terisa:
because it’s moments like these verdicts that make me numb to my own anger

Rudy:
Afraid to even talk about this out loud.

Both:
The part where our first line of action as the people seeking justice,
is to trust the police more than we trust our children.
Is to make use out of a prison cell, instead of showing them the way home.
Is to use juvenile detention centers as an excuse for free childcare.
Terisa:
The part where we celebrate our decision to throw another black boy into a cage,
and trust that prison will teach him how to respect women better than we ever could
if we didn’t give up on him.

Both:
Jails will not fix broken people, jails will break them harder.

Rudy:
Until all of them are shards of mirror, hurting everyone around them.

Both:
No wonder we can’t see our reflections in their mistakes.
Where do you think they’ve learned this from anyways?

Terisa:
I’ll be damned if I stood here and said that I only have the capacity
to love someone who’s only been at the edge of the knife

Both:
At the barrel of the gun
and not have enough love to go around for the one who’s holding the weapon.

Rudy:
And ask, where do they get that from? Who taught them how to use it like that?
Both:
I’m not saying to feel sorry for anybody.
And I’m not going to apologize for the way I feel about an issue
as complex as this one, as complex as we are.
I’m saying that one day I’m going to be a mother (father),
and I’m going to have a son.

Terisa:
And if I don’t raise him in a community that will help me teach him
How to unravel himself from his sexism

Rudy:
From his patriarchy

Terisa:
From the rotten parts of his masculinity.

Both:
And if he doesn’t learn better from me,
then what rape culture will teach him when I’m not looking is

Rudy:
That he is as good as crooked cop street meat

Terisa:
As good as jail bird

Rudy:
Sex offender

Terisa:
Wife beater

Both:
Hopeless case
Caged dog
He is as good as the next brown boy
sobbing on the witness stand

Terisa:
Apologizing to the girl that he raped.

Rudy:
Swearing that he 'didn’t mean to do it'

Both:
Promising that his mother 'taught him better' than that.
Hoping that somebody in that court room will forgive him.
For what?
He has yet to learn.