Killing Empathy

Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
black people,
we’re already seen as different
different in every malevolent
suspicious
nefarious
and criminal way
but we can’t afford to be different
we can’t be different in special
good-hearted
and introverted ways
because that isn’t fathomed
it’s science fiction
or it’s seen as a threat to the systemic and individual barbarism
that views us as savage and barbaric
so how do you kill peace?
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
how do you silence special needs
how do you murder innocence
how do you assassinate empathy
you treat it with enigmas
and label it suspicion
then refuse to listen
and whatever ensues next,
call it a mistake
or a misunderstanding
even if it may be at the expense of a life
it’s just a black life anyways
or maybe if you still have trouble deciding what to call it
call it injustice
call it prejudice
call it implicit bias to soften the blow
or maybe attack it head on no matter who it may turn off
and call it how you see it
call it racism
or call it
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
Elijah McClain
because he did have superhuman strength!
it was empathy
and what the officers did
is symbolic for what America does day-in and day-out
nobody has time for it
everyone has to work to survive
compete and dominate to provide
stereotype to stay safe
and think fast
making fatal judgments in the moment
in the streets we call that survival…
or murder
but put a uniform on it
and we call it policing
but just so nobody forgets
after all there’s so many distractions and smoke screens
eh mhm! mhm, mhm
Elijah McClain!
Elijah McClain!
Elijah McClain!
not a criminal but a lover of life
and that’s how you kill empathy
Elijah McClain!
Martin Luther King Jr
I’d name more but
it ain’t easy, and by now
you should get the point