A brown man
Standing,
Shouting,
Speaking radicalising words.
Marching as to war
Showing placards of his grief,
Depicting foreheads of vagabonds,
Reminding others of past slavery.
Their de-subjectification of freedom
Their voices,
A singular connotation of enough-is-enough
An appetite for recognition
A planting for equality
A right to color
A plea bargain for respect,
Yet writing a throwaway of discrimination.
A caged bird,
Wanting to soar far beyond whiteness.
Demanding equal previlege
A demand costly but needed
Their melancholy of racial assimilation
Our sanguine of identity

Their windspread of hatred
Our moment to canvas light
Black
A shadow of itself
A belonging for many
A colour they deem despicable,
Yet a horizon we cherish.
Looking to the future
A beautiful future
I too
She too
He too
Us too
They too
Black too
Will sit at the table of colors
A dream I hope so dear

Written by Tosan Oluwakemi Thompson

Hatred burns our cities down,
As ash and dust roll o'er the ground,
And in the distance, war horns sound
The call to stand and fight.

But hatred met with hate makes fear-
It's already been a frightful year
Why cant we just listen, ear to ear
And stop the cycle now?

But, they say, its too far gone-
What's wrong is right, what's right is wrong;
But how far is too far to drag along
Without corruption on all sides?

And in the wake of desperate cries,
Did we make sights worth our eyes?
Or did we leave things to be despised
When we paved the way for tears?

Are we proud to hold the line
When the devastation we left behind
Disturbs and hardens every mind
Casting shadows long and deep?

I cannot say that I agree
With this depraved humanity-
But acting without responsibility
Makes us all ashamed.

Yes, anger, hate, and bigotry
Make us all hurt and angry;
But none of these make us free-
For we are all the same.

Please write back to me and tell me how to protest,
Because I'm terrified of running into a bad cop, or privileged white people thinking they can make a citizens arrests

Please give me something else to do since you don't want me to take a knee,
To silently protest while you sing an anthem that represents you but doesn't represent me

Please teach me how protest ,
So you don't have to reproach me for my lack of decorum,
Give me something that will change the outcome
Cause people are dying and it seems you don't care , how come ?

We defend the indefensible crimes of those paid to protect us, and expect us to sit idly by as they **** us,
Turn on the news and watch
Watch them defend the good ole' boys in blue as they go through our history and berate us

Dear white people,
Why can I not yell and scream ?
To make up for the air taken from George Floyd's lungs as he whimpered I can't breathe

Breathe, an unequivocal human right
A knee to the neck, crushing the passage way,
from his eyes was gone the light
The sight, myself a black man that will raise black sons how can I not stare in fright?

Fright , fear in my heart from the sight
The new Jim Crow or the old one?
No ropes but we are still lynched
No dogs chasing us but still the same plight

Dear white white church,
You're probably the biggest problem of all.
All the political capital and still you don't answer our call.
So focused on abortion rights but don't seem to care about black babies when they get a little tall

Jesus was a man of color unjustfully killed
Jesus was a man of color unjustfully killed

Every black man and woman killed an image of Christ but it seems you've willed
Yourself into believing that God doesn't see
Your silence, you've been billed!
And no penance can pay the cost you owe
In the pockets of politicians
You've gone so low
Picking a party over people
You thought we wouldn't know ?
Its no surprise that Donald Trump would go to a church posing with a Bible
Appeasing you so
You fill his pockets with dollars so that the calamity never ends

Dear white allies
We appreciate you answering the call
The problem doesn't directly affect you but still you stand and stand tall
You are our professors, elders, neighbors , church members you give your energy , your passion, your privilege and you use it all

Dear white allies,
We're happy to call you friends
The work is far from done
Its never fun but friendships like this never end.

Sparks fly, and people die;
A cycle that tends to repeat
Endlessly.

Bullets fly, across the sky;
People mourn and cry for love lost;
Grieving for their future days
That would never come,
That has paid the cost.

The cost of what may you ask?
The cost of being black.

Sparks are shot into the sky;
Blood is shot into the sky;
Sweat is shot into the sky,
Tears are shot into the sky,

For being of color,
An eye for an eye?

No? / Then I wonder why?

Why nothing is done until
A fatal outcome?
Why peaceful protests urge uproar,
While unarmed men lay pinned
In the street...
Beneath someone’s knee,
Unable to breathe?

Tell me.
Tell me what the answer is,
To stop the violence,
But most importantly,
To feel safe in my skin
With my melanin.

I love humanity, but this is a message
That needs to be known;
In hopes for all to be seen equally;
Not to feel estranged,
Or be a victim of prejudice,
Or alone.

By the time you let go
It was too late
What was it with you
That consumed so much hate?

How you knelt down
On his neck for so long
Did nothing in you
Scream, Wait this is wrong?

How bout the words
"I can't breathe"
The humanity
To give A MAN some relief

To see life drain
From pleading eyes
There has got to
Be some evil inside

A grown man
Calling out for his mother
How you had
No love or care for this brother

Black, white or brown
Let's love one another
One thing is for sure
We all bleed the same colour

I guarantee now
You'll never forget
What you thought was nothing
Is histories biggest upset

The BLM movement
Worldwide protestings
Black & white marching
From your act resulting

In that moment in time
You hadn't a clue
Just what the results
Of your actions would do

If you'd known in that time
The after taste from your cup
Would be so bitter
You would have got up!

Police brutality, racism
And the latter
All I can say is
Black lives really do matter

The hurt the pain
The families destroyed
Guess now you'll always remember
The name George Floyd.

I wear an old 45 for skin.
Side A is the surface you see;
White and pale under our winter's skies,
But much darker by September.
Side A does a fine job
Keeping my entrails in.
I like the harmony, beat and rhythm of it.

Side B of my skin is harlequin,
A melting *** of mosaic colours
You can't see,
But if you listen,
My lyric is a palette of hues.

What can tell my colour?
When I am inside
and when out
not in the heart?

A country divided
Depressing but true
Leadership wanting
By both Red and Blue.

Faction's aplenty
Each shouting loud
The noise overwhelming
Fomenting the crowd.

Cities in uproar
Police under siege
Anarchists aiming
Our culture to breach.

The media ecstatic
With words to inflame
No boundaries or morals
As if playing a game.

Yet above all this din
A message breaks through
The need to treat others
As you'd like them treat you.

Neither color nor creed
Must poison our soul
Our aim be just one
To make our world whole.

Different indeed
In more ways than one
But Americans all
A freedom hard won.