preserve Life
reserve Property
restore Order
but which are most valued
Mercy
no sweat
we’re sick and tired
of being sick and tired
but being sick and tired
is tireless
and so the fight MUST go on
paradox
dear world,
I’ve changed
I’m a black man leaving prison soon to a
virus pandemic
economic pandemic
and a social and systemic pandemic
all which affect black and brown people the most
so its hard to be excited to come back to you because
well, you’ve demanded my change
but I see you still haven’t changed much at all
social seesaw
when white people are involved
pains absolve
when black people are involved
pains evolve
when white people are involved
problems solved
when black people get involved
answers dissolve
equilibrium is at a loss
equality, at what cost?
what should we leave off
after all, there’s no balance on seesaws
Juneteenth
Holidays get added and taken away all the time. We’re rich in random and temporary traditions that trump any substantial truth or long lasting and relevant care for the sake of celebrating an excuse to drink, paid time off or time and a half. So tomorrow is Juneteenth!
If you don’t know about it, then inform yourself and look it up.
It’s Black people’s Independence Day and every year most Urban communities celebrate it with events, festivals and parades. But it’s also a part of American History.
So I think it shouldn’t be cordoned off to only black Americans, but ALL Americans
because this way, the day that ALL slaves got the memo that they were free, (I said it that way because slaves had already been freed but places like Texas kept that revelation hidden for an additional year or two). And if we’re all one, and independence day and cinco de mayo is equally important, then so should Juneteenth.
I understand there are so many radical changes in process, but this isn’t radical, this is long overdue. So ask a black friend, search out your social media pages, drive by your near urban communities, or search google earth and head to the big black blotches to see what the celebration is about. Sadly not all black people know about this day, because again, our whole American history isn’t told at length in our schools. But once you know, you can’t un-know
so if you have no black friends, then celebrate my ancestor’s freedom* independence* and citizenship* with me (all three of those have an asterisk because well uhh…you know).
I’m sure we can all* be on common ground and belief that the abolishment of slavery was an American achievement to be given its proper spotlight.
HAPPY JUNETEENTH EVERYONE!
8:46
can I please have your undivided attention?
eh mhm!
an unarmed Blackman
is actually
an armed Blackman
just by standing
you ARE
bearing Arms
Blackman
black
standing for
insidious mischievous dangerous inept depraved savage and more of a nefarious act than
a noun, when you describe a human
as a Blackman
let’s go across the color spectrum
what sounds less dangerous and less aggressive
when you list people by a color perspective
lets see
what are the other selections?
white-pure
brown-earth
yellow-meek
red-passion
and then black
a pit, abyss, abysmal
fear and ignorance, just a few of the underlining narratives directed
just to keep people reacting in fear, when they come across my complexion
somehow BLACK
is now synonymous with a uncontrollable assault weapons
somehow BLACK
needs to be put down or caged WITHOUT DISCRETION
with EXTREME PREJUDICE
because of EXTREME PREJUDICE
EXTREMISTS teamed with the PRESIDENT
for WHITE society’s protection
handcuffs only leave you powerless to their onslaught
how can a human be met with so much injustice
and encroached upon crutched juxtaposition
fighting to live with the smallest means…just for a position
in a society that entails PEACEKEEPERS
keeping the PEACE as ZOOkeepers
treating the LEAST as BEASTS
like endangered SPECIES
tho its DIScrete
as we continue to DEcrease
DEplete
taste DEfeat
face DISease
Hate and DIS-ease
UNSEEing of any MEans
of FREE SPEECH
BEING
or PEACE
telling PEACEkeepers
that in order to continue keeping the PEACE
you have to DElete
US WEAPONS on the STREET
that are a THREAT
to the PEACE the PoLice, police
so you strip them of their PEACE
using your MEANS as a POLICE
patrolling STREETS with your PIECE
DISTURBING the PEACE
instead of controlling the FLEET of PIECES
tearing human beings to PIECES
making people believe
that if you eliminate US from the STREETS
that you are now an accomplished Peace Bringer
by taking the REAL WEAPONS off the STREETS
PIECE by PIECE
with a KNEE
and a PLEA
of
I CAN’T BREATHE
and you’ve yet to CEASE
while WE SEE
and HE
CEASES to SPEAK
because HE’S DECEASED
but you were JUST
BEING
that brave PEACE…keeper
the way George Floyd died
is synonymous with how our community suffers
with the foot of OPPRESSION
RACISM
PRIVILEGE
AND
PREJUDICE
on our necks from our waking hours and thru-out our slumbers
he felt helpless, then laid lifeless on his stomach
after he BEGGED
he PLEADED
he BARGAINED
he remained OBEDIENT
while CALLING out for GOD and his MOTHER
who died two years prior the same day, it makes you wonder
did she call him home from beyond to call attention
to the real pandemic, that is still going on, which our society covers?
for fear of being believed to be resisting
he ONLY FOUGHT PANIC
while his OPPRESSOR’S PROTECTED assault persisted
EVEN in CUFFS
on your belly
with a KNEE LODGED
in your NECK and BACK
CUTTING off your AIR and CIRCULATION
black man
you are still ARMED and DANGEROUS
how long do we have to cry out for help before you give us real solutions
this country has given the illusion of inclusion and evolution
because they no longer hang us
yet STILL KILLED in our OWN HOMES
how can WE CITIZENS FEEL like strangers
now let’s rewind back to Kaepernick
I see why he was attacked and viewed as an antagonist
he exposed the veils on issues white people rather not confront-
celebrating an anthem tradition
that NEVER celebrated BLACK PEOPLE’S contribution
NOR their INFLUENCE
but feel like patriots remembering dead soldiers
but what about the SLAVES
that DIED FIRST for EVERYTHING they GAVE
and lay FORGOTTEN in their GRAVES
and their DESCENDANTS
feel their EXISTENCE
is STILL in CHAINS
like NOTHING has truly CHANGED
so the pretty privileged take offense
when you come off too blunt and make sense
but let’s not Offend People
that don’t care that their privilege and silence Offends People
DISCOMFORT creates change
this ISN’T misplaced or misdirected rage
NOR is it without purpose
the purpose was showed
PAIN
HUMILIATION
GRIEF
FATIGUE
protests turned riots
they didn’t become what they opposed
THEY ROSE
from the concrete, FED UP
ENOUGH
now I don’t applaud the violence
but riots
are cries
of the silenced
MLKJr-cited
there are times when violence is the voice for the silenced
and this is not a time for kuumbyas and violins
this is a time for Social Status Quo DEFIANCE
this is a time for the MEEK to take their place as LIONS
UNWAVERING faces of NONCOMPLIANCE
backed into every corner we come across
WE
have less room
WE
can’t move
WE
can’t breathe
these claustrophobic feelings so eerily familiar,
that my insides are doing somersaults-
amongst Monarch Butterflys WE’RE STILL treated like shunned caterpillars
inside of SOCIALLY STRUCTURED GENOCIDAL HOLOCAUST
how can we succeed with solely a LOVE-lesson?
when we’re stereotyped-kentucky fried
desensitized
incentivize
the prison’s rise
recidivize
gentrified
now centralized
into subdivisions
we’re SUB-sectioned
and we take the daily SNUBS as TOUGH LOVE and let them-
treat us like monetary bottom lines, problems, and momentary headlines
sensationalized for just the instance-
cloaking the truth of the ‘tolerable cruelty’,
unchecked in the unaffected’s perspective
displaying the fractured whole of our existence-
instead of engineering generational inclusivity and evolution
we become PRISONERS of the moment
NOW EVERYONE is in PRISON-
so how can we ever hope to be freed
when that key
was swallowed the moment those in denial of their PRIVILEGE
CHOSE NOT to LISTEN
the voiceless are NOT YET FREED
so the voiceless WILL SPEAK
because the voiceless STILL BLEED
while the voiceless PLEAD
and so the voiceless TAKE KNEES
but the voiceless was SILENCED WITH A KNEE!
do we have your attention now? NOW DO YOU SEE
how can we change, Capitalism shows that CHANGE isn’t CHEAP
America is slow to CHANGE because CHANGE isn’t FREE
but the first action for a CHANGE, should be a CHANGE of SPEED
so there will not be another 8minutes and 46seconds neglected of those in PAIN AND NEED