by Sha-Keiya Culzac
We are all victims of violence and fear
Struck down on our backs
Because they fear you, they want you to be broken.
Broken, they break us down, lock us up and throw away the key
The brand of injustice against bound skin
Brown skin, dark skin, but to them not the right skin.
Our men drenched in blood
Painting our streets red
The blood can’t help but be shed
With staggering numbers dead
As we sit back and do what
They shoot us down
So we won’t walk this Earth
Basks in our own presence
No they treat us like dirt
Take away our freedom, try to put our mind in a cage.
Mad cause they can’t put ropes and chains on our wrists so they put handcuffs
instead
We are the ones they choose to neglect
The oath they forget
Promised to protect the people of the city
Except us …
systematic oppression, aggression
We find ourselves begging for mercy
Lying on the ground
Just Like Trayvon Martin
Mike Brown
Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland
I’m just as black as they were
If I cry to you what about me
Would you notice me ?
Would you see me ?
Does my black life not matter ?
We out here screaming Black Lives Matter
Crying to a system that was never made for us
A president that wants to forget us
Cause how easy it is to forget
When it’s not your loved ones being gun down in these streets
left for dead, left to forget
How easy it is to forget when the dead bodies don’t look like you.
Justice system
Freedom
Hypocrisy
Lies
Guns
But we are the threat, we are the ones
Watching Black names on obituaries
When Will it be enough
When will they realize
That the color of my skin is not a crime
Being Black is not a crime
Why do they hate us
Is it because our melanin radiates in the sun?
Is it because we are strong?
Is it because this country was built on the backs of our ancestors?
Or is it because we’re just BLACK
You tell me which one.
THE VIRGINIA NORMAL 