How many times
Must I walk looking over my shoulder
While shopping in my sweaters or button-downs
Hands outside of my pockets
Saving every single receipt
Making sure no one mistakes me for a thief?
How many times
Must he yell, “I can’t breathe!
I can’t breathe!
I can’t breathe!”
Before you see that
He is powerless to draw breath?
How many times
Must you pull your hair-trigger
BANG BANG
BANG BANG
BANG BANG
Before you finally realize
He no longer has the audacity to live?
How many times
Must we watch our sons killed
Our daughters beaten
Our brothers imprisoned
Our sisters raped
Before we acknowledge that problems exist?
How many times
Must we watch as our peers
Laugh and joke and belittle
Without a shred of empathy or unity?
Here’s a thought:
Why belittle Michael Brown to prop up Dillon Taylor
When these two men died due to the same system?
Why is it right for an officer to kill a child
Or to choke a man to death
But wrong to want to hold them to a higher standard?
How many times
Must we see the same story
Before it finally clicks?
How many times?
How many times?
How many times?