by NYELA
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot
I’m not the one.
Boom!
How many more of us have to die before you realize
This thing that’s going on is a freaking genocide?
It's like we hangin from trees with a rope pulled around our necks,
But instead we layin in peace with a bullet capped in ours heads.
One by one taking us off by your gun.
I can’t help but think...
What if that was me
Or my brother, or my sister, or my friend?
This is sick—are we even coming to an END?
It’s like they sittin there waitin for another one of us to die, Oh my!
Google got recommended searches when I look a name up—
Wait up, name me a white man you can say the same for.
Not Dylann Roof, shot up a whole church and got arrested.
Not James Holmes, filled a theatre with bullets and got arrested.
Not Jared Loughner, he smiled in his mugshots like he was happy for what he did.
6 killed, 13 injured but he’s imprisoned at a medical center, B.S.
How can a white man kill and not be killed (I mean arrested)?
How can black man be killed (not arrested)?
Oh yeah, I forgot, when it comes to us there’s a double standard.
Agree with me or not, I’m stating facts not slander.
You see, I’m speaking truth, not just to you,
To the world around me, looking down on me
Like an alimony.
And what they don’t expect
Is what I won’t accept.
I will not accept my life being lost at the hands of a gun no matter who’s behind it/
If my hands are up, you better not shoot,
Especially if I’m unarmed, being black is not a clue.
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.
I’m not the one.
Boo!
Cause if you do…
I’ll take my last breath for Eric Garner.
And I’ll breathe for Sandra Bland.
Drink some tea for Trayvon Martin.
I’ll stand straight up for Freddie Gray.
Fight with Korryn Gaines.
And bleed for Alton Sterling.
I’d take several bullets, but here’s a few...
If you’re a black boy or girl listening to this poem, I’d take one for you.
Imma take a bullet for...
Aiyana Jones
Akai Gurley
Amadou Diallo
Dontre Hamilton
Ezell Ford
Jamar Clark
John Crawford III
Jonathan Ferrell
Laquan Mcdonald
Michael Brown
Oscar Grant
Philando Castile
Ramarley Graham
Rekia Boyd
Sean Bell
Tamir Rice
Terence Crutcher
Walter Scott
This list goes on and on, but I pray it stops
So that our black people can live on, cops.
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cover art by TI' ANYANA