Who Wants ME to be Free?
At night when I close my eyes, and envision, that black 6 year-old—cuffed, face flat on an icy-cold pavement; a gun drawn to her head.
I see the foaming abhorrence in the eyes of her badged abuser who can't see past his hate, nor to her broken spirit, relate. Her blood-curdling screams ‘Just give me one more chance;’ though, she did nothing to deserve the avalanche; the caustic punishment hurled in her face; her only crime was being black and wrongfully ensnared in his space.
Who wants ME to be free?
Her mother joins in on the chorus and screeches at the tip of her lungs—,
‘Don’t murder my baby!’ But together their voices are drowned out like background noise. Voices ignored. Cries unheard. The badged abuser now bearing teeth!
Who wants ME to be free?
The remedy for systemic racism is administrative leave, futile investigations, feigned rebukes, more so-called civilized “privileged” people weighing in on black atrocities, lashing out in shame, knowing there’s no end to black people’s pain—and thus—exploiting the tragedy becomes fair game.
Who wants ME to be free?
We beg for solidarity, AND vainly we plead, ‘Stop Killing us!’ Reduced to begging for our own lives in this, My Country Tis of Thee.
Who wants ME to be free?
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"Who Wants ME to be Free?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/138527/who-wants-me-to-be-free?>.
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