A nightmare unfolded just
recently
Not altogether unexpected,
Just a matter of time some had
surmised
But most convincingly
projected.
Yet when it happened,
strangely enough,
Many were still surprised,
Considering not much had been
done to stem it
So, again two worlds collide.
There was some element of deja
vu
Like this had happened before
Which added a surreal nature
to the event
As though it was staged once
more.
In living colour, not black
and white
Like in the days of not so
long ago,
This nightmare unfolded on a
city street
As though it was Hollywood on
show.
It was the grimmest thing you
ever saw
Like the treatment given to a
centipede,
Words that would melt the
hardest heart
Yet the perpetrator would not
yield.
How the viewers of that awful
event
Wish to that request they
could accede!
But they were powerless,
whatever good intent,
When the victim gasped, “I
can't breathe.”
Not that it had not happened
before,
It had, and not very long ago,
To another human being of
similar ethnicity
And that event too was on
show.
This one carried a certain
nonchalance
As though it was a
gladiatorial display,
Just like the victor would
subdue his opponent
Way back in those Roman days.
Then, that was the accepted
standard
Particularly if the opponent
was an enemy,
The victim and his fellowmen
were made a spectacle;
This was a gladiatorial show
of victory.
Never mind it happened on a
city street
At the hands of servants who
swore to protect,
It has been happening with
such frequency
That it must be high time for
a reality check.
This time, more than like any
other,
There was a certain imperial
attitude,
It was like the perpetrator
was untouchable
And the victim was simply
paying his dues.
As though this was his destiny-
Just awaiting the whim of his
executioner
Or, to put it in a more
favourable light,
Destined to die the death of a
martyr.
I keep on hearing these heart
wrenching words
They just would not go away,
You see, I happen to be the
same complexion
And I have family that live
over there.
What if it were my biological
brother?
Or, my nephew… or great
nephew?
It is their faces I am seeing
in this nightmare
And I tell you it is a
horrific view!
If every man has a limit, and
I believe he has,
Then it has to be the “I
can't breathe” limitation,
Surely, at this point a man
must fight back
To ensure his continuation.
Something had better be done
and quickly
Besides the rhetoric and fancy
foot moves,
Or, even the decent black
people in America
Will decide they have
something to prove.
That they have no less value
that any other,
That they are not the
perpetrators of all crime,
That they are no longer only
good to be enslaved
And that they deserve to have
some free time.
That the law not only applies
to them
But to all, regardless of
their colour or class,
And that unless the
authorities take urgent note
These current protests will
never be past.
Black people, like the whites,
have dreams,
They dream of a better day
When like the whites they can
walk in freedom
And like the whites, can also
have their say.
Stewart Russell © June 2020
