We scream for justice, and beg for peace

No matter how hard we fight, our lives are forever leased

To a system designed to will never release the chains it binds us to

We watched a brother get detained and scream “I can’t breathe” as the air just seethed from his dying soul

And as the body lay cold the camera man watched in fear as the screams of everyone near deafened the loud roar of his empty corpse hitting the floor

We are a hopeless people desperately chasing a contingency plan. Praying on reparations to save us from these situations that were plagued upon us in this god forsaken nation

Relentlessly screaming to be left alone and hoping for one word

Justice

Oh how so many of us would be at ease if there were justice delivered to many of these people’s feet. How we’d have a better nation if our police were monitored and regulated for their performance when dealing with the underrepresented and the oppressed

How hatred and the seething toxic air of racism and oppression would clear like a smog being fanned away if we were able to hold accountable those that decide its their sworn duty to pilfer our freedoms. Today an officer was acquitted for murder. And the world cried.

Shattered in fear I wallowed in pain

I’m so tired of being afraid. I’m disgusted with feeling like I could lose it at any day

I’m so exhausted with praying

That my brothers make it home safe

Yes they’re grown but they’re black

So one false move could put them behind bars or make that breath their last. At any given moment they could be walking home at night and become Trayvon. He was just looking for the right house. Their big young men so they can be assaulted the way Eric Garner was. And that’s the most difficult reality to think about. Or how they could become Tamil Rice. Playing in the park and an officer without hesitation ends up taking their life. How is any of this right? How can we idle by and watch another black man be harassed or gunned down like he doesn’t matter? Why is it so hard to see me as a human being? How do we allow someone to scream I can’t breathe I can’t breathe and the whole world witness it, but yet accountability becomes an after thought. I’m asking l, because I it can be anyone of us. And it’s mortifying to see. How authority can simply massacre those it was sworn to protect and no one can punish them?

Where is this end?

I write this poem with tears in my eyes.

It feels like a will that I leave to all the guys that hope to find salvation in life

Someone’s death was filmed. And the officer was not given justice. Illegally choked to death. Over some loose cigarettes someone tell me I’m not the only one that’s not feeling that. We’ve seen this movie an infinite amount of times. Black lives count as 3/5th, when did WE make this compromise? When do we get to decide that we are worth a WHOLE life?

When there’s no more of us?

Or when the world falls apart?

Tomorrow? In an hour? Naw right now. Right fucking now. We cannot let this go on any longer.

I’m tired of waking up in colds sweats thinking about Eric Garner’s death

I’m fatigued with having nightmares of seeing his last breath, I wonder what his mind thought. I wonder how hard it must have been

To even fathom such an end

Let alone experiencing it

I keep praying for justice

I keep screaming for peace

And every time I open my eyes they are covered in blood and I can feel a noose around my neck

And bullets in my chest

And my mouth is flooded with saltwater

And my back is burning with marks

And my limbs are broken

I can only feel pain, I can’t see the sunshine through all this rain

Because there is this dark cloud that shrouds my people and I

And all I keep thinking is

I don’t want to die

But maybe death can save me from this hell

No I can’t die I’ve got too much I’m leaving

Too much to do before I’m felled

I’ve got little brothers, I can’t leave them behind.

I’ve got to teach them how not to be blind,

To respect all officers when I ask for their name.

To say yes sir no sir

To be as cautious as possible when interacting with authority

To not make sudden movements or it can end their lives

To not resist

To do whatever the officer asks

Because one false move and you become a memory you become someone in the past

How easily we can lose a life from those sworn to protect it

I’ve got friends facing the same fate

None of those officers believed Eric Garner had those things when they strangled him and weaseled him to the ground

As he tumbled screaming

“ I CANT BREATHE”

“ I CANT BREATHE”

“ I CANT BREATHE”

None of them thought maybe we should get him some help?

Maybe we shouldn’t choke him to try to subdue him,

Or subdue him at all.

Being black makes you a threat, even when you’ve done nothing at all.

No justice no peace

Becomes a war cry, not a plea to be left alone

Begging for our own peace, begging you to stop

We scream

In the streets to wake you up, non violently,

But disruptive

As to remind you of how demonstrative and exhausting you have been to our existence

A man was choked to death. And the world saw it last night, the man who killed him was filmed, and walked away

No justice,

No peace for the family

And we’re just thought to forget

Naw never that, we’ll remember till they give him the justice he deserves, till they all get justice we will fight till justice is served

JUSTICE FOR ERIC GARNER