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He wore a hoodie, she had an attitude
He wore a hoodie, she had an attitude
He wore a hoodie
So you immediately assumed he had a weapon
He wore a hoodie
So you immediately assumed he was on the way to a drug deal
He wore a hoodie
So you thought he was hiding something
He wore a hoodie
So you thought he was a good for nothing criminal
He wore a hoodie
So of course your racist self would assume he was a thug
He wore a hoodie
So of course your racism is showing
She had an attitude
So you labelled her as rude
She had an attitude
So you saw her as aggressive
She had an attitude
So of course you called her ignorant
She had an attitude
So of course you called her uncivilised because she paid you no attention
She had an attitude
Because she didn't smile at you
She had an attitude
So of course your racism is showing
He wore a hoodie
Because he wanted to be invisible
He didn't want to be judged
He didn't want people to 'mistake' his facial expressions for an act of violence
He wore a hoodie
Because racists criminalised his skin colour
He thought he could hide
He thought this was the best way to survive
That was until they shot him and then he died
She had an attitude
Because she was instructed from when she was old enough
To not make eye contact
To be emotionless
So they wouldn't see her as a threat
Which could possibly end with her death
She was exhausted
She had an attitude
Because earlier that day on her social media
She received a comment
Calling her slurs
Using the hard 'er'
She had an attitude
Because it didn't matter if she was smiling or frowning
They would always label her a threat
She was tired
She knew no matter what she did
She would probably be followed and murdered
He wore a hoodie and she had an attitude
For protection against racism
But not matter how hard they tried to please the system
In the end they couldn't win
All because of the colour of their skin
Copyright ©
Layla Riley-Hill
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