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Gunshots and tasers aimed at the back
tracking the movements and memories
of unsuspecting dark-skinned citizens 
marked by the scars of a history denied

For Rumain Brisbon, 34
it was crime to be black in Arizona
For Tamir Rice, 12
it was crime to be black in Ohio
For Alonzo Ashley, 29
it was crime to be black in Colorado

The Federal Bureau of Investigation
say young black men are 21 times as likely 
as their white peers to be killed by police
who use deadly force first with impunity

For Kajieme Powell, 25
it was a crime to be black in Missouri
For Ezell Ford, 25
it was a crime to be black in California
For Trayvon Martin, 17
it was a crime to be black in Florida

Predators in blue or green or grey
are looking for you if your skin is black
brown or beige ever eager to escalate 
minor infractions into family tragedies

For Tyree Woodson, 38
it was a crime to be black in Maryland
For Victor White III, 22
it was a crime to be black in Louisiana
For Yvette Smith, 47
it was a crime to be black in Texas

This is not new or shocking to those
who live with this in their daily lives
but a revelation to the feckless peers
wearing the white cape of entitlement

For McKenzie Cochran, 25
it was a crime to be black in Michigan
For Miriam Carey, 34
it was a crime to be black in Washington, D.C.
For Jonathon Ferrell, 24
it was a crime to be black in North Carolina

To protect and serve themselves
to serve superiors who lie and obfuscate
to hide behind denials and fabrications
nurturing the shield of the thick blue wall

For Johnnie Kamal Warren, 43
it was a crime to be black in Alabama
For Ervin Jefferson, 18
it was a crime to be black in Georgia
For Chavis Carter, 21
it was a crime to be black in Arkansas

This is the bloody trail left behind
from the Original Sin the pain and horror
in the bottom of boats and later in chains
on plantations and now in private prisons

For Eric Garner, 43
it was crime to be black in New York
For Sandra Bland, 28
it was a crime to be black in Texas
For Samuel Dubose, 23
it was a crime to be black in Ohio

Newspaper headlines scream and shout
officers go free as gullible grand juries 
are misled by dissembling prosecutors 
proud to defend craven uniformed killers

For Eric Harris, 44
it was crime to be black in Oklahoma
For Walter Scott, 50
it was a crime to be black in South Carolina
For Freddie Gray, 25
it was a crime to be black in Maryland

Not all of them are like this 
but there have been 
too many times 
too many dead and 
too many watching
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