Even when you stay silent you ain't safe
someone will stick a fist in your face
and tell you to support them or else
they make assumptions about you
based on the color of your skin
they envy you for the clothes you wear
the car you drive, the home you live in
they blame you for things you didn't do
would never do or think of doing
until now
they riot in the streets on the least report
of some possible atrocity they won't walk back
Even when facts prove them wrong
you can't walk back burning someone's business
and black lives do not matter
if the business they burn is owned by a black man
even the press won't walk back
Having claimed this time that an “innocent black” man
was shot seven times in the back in front of his kids
when the man shot had raped the mother of his kids
stolen her car, wielded a knife and wouldn't put it down
despite repeated commands by the police to do so
starting a riot is like starting a forest fire
a lot of trees burned before someone manages to put it out
the fire keeps on burning because media keeps on relighting it
searching for some new “innocent” black men to exploit
so that they can make headlines
the fire keeps burning because it is convenient
for some leaders to use it to
clear away the forest for their own behalf
encouraging sports people to sit out games
when everybody knows the shooting was justified
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