UNREST
by
Nicole Lockhart
We are looking for our trigger
It's just a matter of time before the
*Snap*
For our skin is wearing so thin,
you can see the spirit chained within.
Thinner than its pigment and whipped scars.
Thinner than the bloodshed and prison bars.
And to the republic for which it no longer stands,
darkened like the back of my hand?
An uncivil America shows its residual flaws
etched deep in unwritten laws;
is a freedom for some
and not freedom for all.
Are there no ethics for the ethnic
in a world divisible by melanin?
If an unarmed black boy walks to the store to by some candy,
should his parents make sure he has a weapon handy?
See, It's set up like a joke
But the punchline is sad
that the imaginary threat you think I am...
is Tired and Mad.
Are all officers endowed with a Reasonable Doubt?
Always getting the benefit of the doubt,
Protected without reason to shout.
Help me, my God, I can't figure it out!
"One dead two dead three dead four
Kill me a n**** kill me some mo!
Five dead six dead seven dead too
Black boy run, they're a gunnin' for you!
Hands up blackie I think they gonna shoot!
Say a prayer for yo mama and yo country too."
The righteous rightly riot
The war they wage is true
But what happens to the community?
What happens to the loot?
Action meets traction in a furious collide
Let love erode the ivory walls of Washington
Where a black president resides.
I love my police, but can't stop my soul from crying
My brothers, fathers, sons are dying
This silence feels like lying
so I speak up for lack of trying, I must
because I must,
because I must...
Our father which art in heaven,
Forgive U.S our trespasses
as we forgive those
Who trespass against U.S.
