Dear America,
Here’s a bedtime story
it’ll make the 10 o’clock news but not the history books
teachers won’t even mention it or take a second look
Once upon a time, not long ago
the moonlight lit the streets
not in Detroit but in Ohio,
New Jersey, Alabama, all the way in
Milwaukee.
Ever since a Black boy was born
on his forehead read
REWARD: FOUND DEAD OR ALIVE
and he better not drive better yet walk the streets alone at night.
America the land of the free, laughs
Dontre Hamilton, John Crawford,
Micheal Brown, Eric Garner, Travyon Martin,
Ezell Ford, Dante Parker, Akai Gurley
Tamir Rice, Ruamain Brison, Jerame Reid
Tony Robinson, Phillip White, Eric Harris
Walter Scott, Freddie Gray
Shall I go on?
Better yet America shall I not have children?
my Black boy will stay alive
I’ll be damned if another cop put a bullet in between a Black boy’s eyes
it’s the jobs of cops to protect and serve
not make my son America’s Most Wanted
and paint the sidewalks with his blood —
Sincerely,
Every mother scared to let her child walk out the front door