Look at them like they’re different
Like they’re wrong
Were handed a bad deck,
With too much melanin
Don’t fit your perfect
Condescension oozing through your words
Distaste flickering in your eyes
Watch the news, see the deaths
They’re the problem, you say
Stuff them all in a ditch somewhere
Slap “ghetto” on the door
Clean your hands and look away
Not a second of sleep lost
…they’re the problem…
Or maybe it’s you
Your “us” and “them” is
Poison slipping through our veins
So, shut up
Hold out your hand
When they fall
They would do the same
They don’t start out hardened
Don’t start out flinching when you approach
Don’t start out knowing to ignore you
As you clutch your purse in the elevator
Don’t start out terrified for their lives
At the sight of a cop
They’re taught
Taught not to feel, by fear
By the thousands of hashtags,
All that is left of their loved ones
And it’s not “them”, not “they”
It’s us, all of us
Together we fall
Together we break
Together we rise
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