Police are coming,
Sirens wailing.
The white man stands tall, unafraid, defiant.
The black man flees in the shadow.
Because the white man knows he will leave in handcuffs,
but the black man knows he will be left on the ground,
blood flowing from the bullets that penetrated his black skin.

We praise the white man,
"A good man!" we say, "At least he owns up to his mistakes."
And yet we blame the black man's instinct to flee
as a result of their cowardice and culpable heart.
The white man has made an error in judgement,
the black man is a criminal who deserves his disdain.

And then George Floyd was killed.
May 5th, 2020.
Eight minutes, forty six seconds.
Half the time of Martin Luther King's speech, I Have a Dream.
All of America turned over.

Or so it seems.
"Black Lives Matter!" we cry,
We blame our racism on our uneducated ancestors.

you are part of me
and i am part of you 
but some people don't think so. 
some people will tear us apart
even though you
are beautiful, like a midnight sky full of stories. 
but you are black. 
and so they oppress you
hurt you
and strangle you until you can't breathe. 
they kill you.

It's. Just. Wrong. 

unfortunately they don't realize
that we are all descended from one person 
and that person was black.

for christians, 
i can't say for sure but it's likely that 
your Jesus was brown skinned. 

Black people are human. 
They deserve to be treated like humans,
not like animals. 
They deserve rights, and education
and compassion. 

you are a part of me, 
and i am a part of you
and although i can not speak for other people
i promise to respect you.
i promise to care about you.