Brutality and The People In Blue

From the time people with brown skin
where put into shackles
there was a massage that the darker color
signified an inferiority
though not beaten to a pulp
I was subjected to excessive
police behavior
a student committed to peaceful protest

"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity." - Seneca the Elder

A brother Tyre Nichols, treated worse
than an animal under the guise
of reckless driving but for
which video footage showed that
was not the case
Nichols fled from the officers
and beaten to a pulp
as one might tenderize meat

A special unit ironically called
Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION)
an effort to combat car theft and gang violence
while the reason for the effort was noble
something went way wrong and there is a twist
not white officers and black citizens
or black officers and white citizens
this was black men killing a brother

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Bringing up a question which many progressive forces
have been asking for years
color ain't the only thing that needs to be considered
but rather how are we training police officers
are the tools being given conditioning
cops no matter what color to fear black folk?
are we squashing out our sense of humanity
to produce law enforcement we don't want?

“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.”
 --Cornel West

So yes I am beyond tired
os seeing people of color being treated worse
than animals while others
can storm the center of national government
with the tacit approval of the
head of that said government
whose allegiance to the union
is highly questionable

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Yes I love this country just as much as you
I pay my taxes, cheer for the Olympic team
enjoy the parks, beaches, libraries, museums
I feel a deep sorrow for troops who never return
I vote even when the names for the
most prominent positions aren't ones I like
and I get enraged when a citizen is unnecessarily
taken for I know when CAN DO BETTER!