Why are you so loud?
there comes a time when
people you once respected
reveal
or you discover
the real
person behind the mask
__
face facts
people who never wanted you
to do better
than them
are now wishing
that you would
shut your mouth
stop your tweeting
delete your facebook
get out of the streets
why are you
so loud
__
like the screams of
the black child
whose father is dead
whose mother is grieving
whose siblings are
also fatherless
__
it’s like the system was built
to destroy us
which of my brothers were around
when the constitution
was drafted
yet
we were drafted
to fight your wars
to fill your prisons
to be treated
like 3/5 of a man
because of our skin
__
now do you see?
can you lift your blinders now?
can you stop thinking all lives matter
now?
__
b l a c k l i v e s m a t t e r
they mattered
when
white men kidnapped us
from the mother land
and when white men
raped slaves who gave birth
to bastard babies
who grew to be house slaves
because their skin was lighter
but still
they were slaves
beaten, abused
ripped apart from
their families
undocumented
burials and sinking of
black bodies
in deep waters
__
now
generations later
the mystery men
who were buried in mass graves
with no tombstone
have descendants who do not know
their great great great great great
grandfather was beaten
and disposed of
like litter washing up
on the shore
and here we are
over four centuries later
the year was 1619
the year is 2020
__
black lives mattered
when jim crow
was written
and Emmett Till
was lynched by two white men
because a white woman
lied
testified under oath
and lied
so a black boy died
at 14 years old
and the world saw
his swollen
mutilated body
from the
beating
torture
shooting
and disposal
of his black body
in a river
his unrecognizable face
on covers of papers
and magazines
everywhere
but the verdict was
not guilty
and here we are
nearly seven decades later
the year was 1955
the year is 2020
__
black lives mattered
when Rodney King
was tasered and beaten
by five white officers
who did not know
they were being recorded
beat the man
until he was black
and blue
they were acquitted
by the way
__
remember the LA riots?
when people took to the streets
not because
they were animals but
because they were tired
and the whole world
could see why
on the news
in the media
in their neighborhoods
at their corner stores
at their shopping centers
on the streets
but here we are
nearly three decades later
the year was 1991
the year is 2020
and Black lives still matter
Originally published at http://mirandalattimore.com on May 31, 2020.
