I can't breathe.
White supremacy no longer just a myth.
I am choked with indecency and disrespect.
I can't breathe.
Fists of madness clamp around my face.
Every fiber of my being disgraced.
Injustices laced with every step I take
Because of who I am.
I can't breathe.
Everything I do.
Watched from a distance until I go askew.
Viscous demons with fangs and claws.
Waiting to rip apart my flesh.
They hide behind masks and nice uniforms.
Nicely dressed
But waiting for a chance to get me to say:
I can't breathe.
I am just a splash of color.
Blotting the page and bleeding through.
Blamed for another's crimes.
Assumed to be just the same.
I am not normal and I am not sane.
I can't breathe.
I have no name, just a record.
I am a statistic.
I am unrealistic.
"There is no way he can be different," they say.
I am not treated humanely
Whether it be night or day.
I can't breathe.
Another number to add on to their list.
Not a single person that they've missed.
I can't breathe.
Born with this "defect"
Is it really?
Is the color of my skin so unpleasant?
That I get viewed like a criminal
And treated like a peasant?
I can't breathe.
Pin me to the floor.
Cover my mouth.
Everything I am about
Ripped from me as I shout:
I can't breathe.
I am human.
But they are not.
Powered and controlled like robots.
Hate and ignorance their strategy.
But me.
I am their battery.