Last Words
Why are you following me for?
Following us through centuries of oppression.
My freedom wasn’t won in that war,
Though you like to give that impression.
We are black people in white spaces
Followed
By a shooter’s bias, shootings, and shouts of shots fired.
Followed by innocence discovered too late
And justice delivered too little.
Always, followed.
Why do you have your guns out?
Accidental dispatch and unarmed
How is it that you got the bailout
And I am the one harmed?
Shoot first, ask later.
Don’t you know you are a hate creator?
I am somebody’s father, brother, husband, son.
But you didn’t think about that before raising your gun.
I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting!
But after a struggle, it was decided
Executing was easier than prosecuting.
You shot me! You shot me!
Mom, I’m going to college.
It’s not real.
I can’t breathe.
Last words on earth
First words of a new revolution.
We need to hurt, remember, and speak.
Speak their names, their words, their stories.
Trayvon Martin, Aura Rosser, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Kenneth
Chamberlain, Kimberle Crenshaw, Michael Brown, Michelle Cusseax, Oscar Grant,
Botham Jean, Riah Milton, Amadou Diallo, Gabriella Nevarez, Philando Castille,
Natasha Mckenna, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, Atatiana
Jefferson, Stephon Clark, Alton Sterling, Janisha Fonville, Akai Gurley, Tanish Anderson,
Tamir Rice, [Insert so many more names here]
Stand up and follow.
Follow the hatred with peaceful protest.
Follow the pain with love.
Follow each victory with celebration.
We must arm ourselves and each other
With the weapons of compassion and persistence.
Equality and justice are human rights,
Not white rights.
Let the time come where we can live and love equally
And let our world, our generation be the one to usher it in.
These will be our last words.
***
1] Trayvon Martin – February 26, 2012
[2] Kenneth Chamberlain – November 19, 2011
[3] Michael Brown – August 9, 2014
[4] Oscar Grant – January 1, 2009
[5] Amadou Diallo – February 4, 1999
[6] John Crawford – August 5, 2014
[7] Eric Garner – July 17, 2014
Here they are!
***
Hailey George has a writer’s heart and a passion for telling her tales. She began her first novel at age 13 and has written every day since. She has published several articles in the Town Crier and Wellington the Magazine and three poetry chapbooks titled Beyond Words, The Emotionless Enigma, and Everything I Didn’t Say. She is currently working on three novels and two more chapbooks.