My country drowns in an ocean of denial.
and everyday I watch it’s tragic sinking.
Young brown girls body slammed after a pool party
an unarmed, asthmatic husband. Choked out over a loosey
an elderly man, antagonized over his makeshift cane.
a teenage boy, beat and humiliated..subdued by 9 men for jaywalking
We call it’s name.
“brutality”
We ask for accountability for these dishonorable COPS
Cowards
On
Patrol
– demeaning the reputation
of the lot who wear the badge with integrity
But because the victims were born with sun-kissed skin
we stifle the cry.
We justify the terror
or just ignore it altogether.
Acknowledging Bigotry and his nephew, Abuse
inconveniences our facade of equality.
“POST RACIAL”
So it’s imperative
that we change the narrative…
“Black Lives Matter”
is diluted to “all lives”.
Frustrated at this apologetic complacency,
my blood boils with enough heat to light 10,000 volcanoes
I imagine this is what Dr. Huxtable’s survivors must have felt.
Knowing very well that
your body had been compromised
dignity dismantled
yet watch as your assailant is blindly defended
and as those who love him reach for ways to blame you for your own turmoil.
Being in this black body
is to be the bottle of pop
that gets dropped, tossed and shaken
but the top is left on,
preventing the natural release and overflow
Oh, America!
With all of your beautiful rolling hills, astonishing mountains
and majestic array of cultures –
how I yearn to join in on your star spangled love songs
The little boy in me still wishes I could hold your flag up high and
feel it not just as an extension of my arm
but an annex of my soul
But I don’t
Instead I sit at the ballgame
The anthem never moves across my lips
How can I pledge allegiance to something that refuses to do the same for me?
We will continue to speak out
We want you to reach your full potential
so we will continue to be honest about the beautiful liar that you are
There is a band of sisters and brothers
of all stripes
For we know that there are 2 words that threaten our democracy
2 words that speak death to the ideals of liberty and justice
They are the same 2 words that your police scream
anytime they want to justify the assault and murder of the harmless;
“STOP RESISITING”!
the conscience cloud 