Barry Levy Poet Verse

To Be Black Is a Crime In America

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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Connie Marcum Wong May 10, 2017 at 1:49 AM Maybe it would help if the jurors were blindfolded and the attorneys did the speaking. I so agree about the training. There needs to be a limit of once when tasing someone. Police brutality should cost an officer his job. It wouldn't take long before it stopped. A deep and honest look! 7 ; )

Adam Kinsley May 9, 2017 at 12:27 PM There are no checks and balances in this country. All three branches work conveniently together as if there is only one branch...there's a word for that, it's called, 'corrupt.'

Itumeleng Cangua May 9, 2017 at 7:07 AM Painful but beautiful, I hope we can learn something for this piece. Well done and keep it up. Barry Levy May 9, 2017 at 10:06 AM Thank you, you are very generous. Change never comes until there is an admission of wrongdoing first. Racist cops who think they are judge and jury are killing unarmed black people: They need to learn how to behave like humane beings and not terrorists in their own neighborhoods. They have to be taught that they are not hunters and black people aren't animals to be hunted. They need to learn some respect for other people, or be thrown off the force.

Cc Browning May 8, 2017 at 7:37 PM Love that you used their names. This is real and people need a wakeup call. Barry Levy May 9, 2017 at 9:56 AM Thank you for your kind words. This is about institutionalized and condoned racism. Nothing will change until police forces admit to this and correct it from top to bottom; from the chief to the cop on the beat.

Skat A July 17, 2016 at 2:52 PM Wow, Barry thats powerful... RIP men and Women. God will serve justice upon all the ones who murdered all these innocent people mentioned and not mentioned. Skat Barry Levy July 20, 2016 at 11:57 AM Thanks for the positive reaction. I hope you and God think alike. Enough is enough.