'I can't breathe': a poem
"I can't breathe"
he said,
Yet your knee remained.
A man, unarmed,
fighting for air,
all for what?
He told you,
"My neck hurts, my stomach hurts,
everything, hurts."
Yet, your knee remained.
"Don't kill me"
he pleaded,
fear consumed him,
yet your knee remained,
as you ignored his cries.
You believed you were doing your job,
or at least that's what your excuse was,
but his 'crime?' Harmless, minor,
no proof, all suspicion,
yet you acted.
You listened,
to the pleas of an unarmed man
desperate to breathe,
fearful of death,
yet, you ignored.
Nine minutes.
You removed your knee,
revealing the innocent man,
you wrongfully punished.
Now, we protest.
75 cities, desperate for justice,
for equality,
we fight against,
you try to silence,
tear gas and rubber bullets,
when did this world become so cruel?
We will not be silenced.
Over a hundred victims.
Unarmed, yet shot.
Unarmed, yet strangled.
Unarmed, yet dead.
This is the world in which we live.
Will it ever change?
By Toni Rogers
he said,
Yet your knee remained.
A man, unarmed,
fighting for air,
all for what?
He told you,
"My neck hurts, my stomach hurts,
everything, hurts."
Yet, your knee remained.
"Don't kill me"
he pleaded,
fear consumed him,
yet your knee remained,
as you ignored his cries.
You believed you were doing your job,
or at least that's what your excuse was,
but his 'crime?' Harmless, minor,
no proof, all suspicion,
yet you acted.
You listened,
to the pleas of an unarmed man
desperate to breathe,
fearful of death,
yet, you ignored.
Nine minutes.
You removed your knee,
revealing the innocent man,
you wrongfully punished.
Now, we protest.
75 cities, desperate for justice,
for equality,
we fight against,
you try to silence,
tear gas and rubber bullets,
when did this world become so cruel?
We will not be silenced.
Over a hundred victims.
Unarmed, yet shot.
Unarmed, yet strangled.
Unarmed, yet dead.
This is the world in which we live.
Will it ever change?
By Toni Rogers