Stand Your Ground

-



(for Trayvon)


Oh what's race
got to do
got to do with it?
What's race
but an inappropriate
notion of the OTHER.
Could have been
anyone in the world
walking down the street
that rainy February night
stranger who instills fear
makes you cold with fright.
Scary figure draws you out
the safety of your car?
What made you so righteous,
unafraid to stand your ground
come face to face
with potential threat?

Oh what's race
got to do
got to do with it?
What's race
but an inappropriate
notion of the OTHER.
Lone black teen
unarmed,
sipping on some tea
HOODIE on his head
only protection
from the rain,
walking down
wrong street
on happy valley
INVADING
their personal space
suspicious, yes.
Not figured to be someone’s
guest.

Oh what's race
got to do
got to do with it?
What's race
but an inappropriate
notion of the OTHER.
Mr. Wanna be police
doing what police
do best, put benefit
of the doubt to rest
just profile.

That neighborhood is yours!
He couldn’t
be someone’s guest.
Use deadly force
in self defense to defend
the place, that’s your right
to be in your ground, don’t retreat
don’t give up, your ground.

What's race but a marker
of what someone can be, is
and deserves. Wasn’t
it reasonable to believe,
to feel scared, to believe in good faith
that Lone black teen
unarmed Lone black teen
was there to take your life?
Rush him, face those fears, don’t
retreat stand your ground, secure
your space. What's race
got to do, got to do with it?


Note: Since the inception of “Stand your ground laws” in 2005 in Florida, self-defense claims in shootings have tippled.  Support independent publishing Tupelo Press http://tupelopress.wordpress.com/3030-project/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frida Kahlo Poem Dedicated to Diego Rivera

-
Image
(Translation by Claudia Rodriguez) In saliva on the paper in the eclipse. In all the lines in all the colors in all the jars in my chest outside, inside in the inkwell in the difficulties in writing in the wonderment of my eyes in the last moons of the sun (the sun doesn’t have any moons) in everything To say in everything is imbecile and magnificent. Diego in my urine- Diego in my mouth- in my heart, in my madness, in my dream, in the blotting paper- in the tip of the pen, in the pencils- in the landscapes- in the food- in metal- in my imagination. In my sickness- in the ruptures- in his lapels—in his eyes-in his mouth-in his lie. Kahlo, Frida. in “Frida el pincel de la angustia. Zamora, Martha. La Herradura, Mexico. 1987.
Read more

BLM Owes Me Nothing!

-
Image
(R.I.P Vanessa Guillen) 1. I think that when you organize a social justice event; participate in a rally or a cause it’s because something about that issue moved you very deeply. You were drawn in even though the energy doesn’t completely mirror your experiences. It’s is still magical, transformative and impacting to fight for your beliefs and your values, to see so many people fight against injustices fills me with hope for humanity. I feel human again, am reminded that I am part of the human race. I’m embarrassed to say it, but I feel heroic, the way they always stand on the side of what’s right. 2. I never approach a social justice cause conditionally, do you? Is your political support conditional? Do you go..? Have you gone to a BLM rally and told yourself “alright I’m here, but these bitches better show up when my community puts on a rally!” Do you sign a petition advocating for LBGT rights and think “ok, but when my ass is getting discriminated against, y’all p
Read more

Los Novios

-
Image
Married 05.25.2019 Ours is a good love a classic love settled, secure, durable like big brown sexy pillars of the gay community. Pillars that many wish they could twirl around- like some carefree stripper we   know you want this! We are a lusty kind of love. Loving ourselves is loving our community archiving its beauty in the poetry we speak and in the portraits we create. Line by line recording the shades and shadows in the lives of our brown gente magagandang tao. Because loving our community is loving ourselves. Our love is promising like the trunks that are your arms malakas promising comfort, security and love when they wrap around me. Our love is endless, like the many barriers, the challenges big and small that have threatened the world we ’ ve   built together...and we look back shine our big, bright beautiful smiles at all that we ’ ve overcome and feel comforted in knowing that our love is bui
Read more