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Black and White Views

black and white views 

In this era
Of extreme polarization
We have lost our sense 
Of humanity

Seeing the same event
A black man walks to his car
Confronted by five cops
Guns drawn
He tries to get in his car
To check on his three children
As he is pulled out of his car
He was tazer then shot
Seven times in the back
At close range
While his three young children
Sit in the car 
Look on terrified 
As they see their dad
Shot by the police


Many whites think 
Well he must have done something
To deserve this Fate
On that date

Perhaps he had a criminal record 
Had a knife or gun 
Talked back to the police
Perhaps used curse words 
Perhaps not showing proper respect
To law enforcement 
Which should be a crime 
After all

And it does not concern me
I don’t care 
About this at all
Not my problem 
Will not ever 
Happen to me 

But in any event
People will hit the streets
Protesting yet again
Why can’t they just shut up
And leave it be
It is what it is

Black people brown people
Think of course
He was shot dead
Shot seven times
His crime 
Being a black man
In Trump’s America

A white person would not have been shot
Would have been treated with respect 
But he is just another 
In a long line of people
Shot by the police
Many of them 
Turned into ghosts
Because black lives 
Do not matter at all

The truth is lost 
In the shuffle
The facts are clear
The police over-reacted

Using deadly force
As a first response
Not as a last resort

After talking to him
Trying to calm things down
If that did not work
tazing him 

Should have been the end 
Of the confrontation
If he was indeed 
A violent criminal

But he was a black man
That is all the cops saw
Black lives still do not matter
They have never matter

Will this change anytime soon
I doubt it 
As longer as old white men
Are in charge of our society
And black and brown lives
Do not matter at all
It is what it is

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