By: Cedric McClester, Copyright © 2015.  All rights reserved.

Join the discourse
Hear the constant chatter
Though often discounted
Black lives really matter
As long as our blood
Continues to splatter
While we’re unarmed
Credence to the latter

Black lives matter
We’ve all heard it said
Too many young black men
Are winding up dead
Not just from cops
But from ourselves instead
I think enough blood
Has already been bled

All lives matter
It goes without saying
But that’s not the topic
That I’m here conveying
Pointing out the latter
Is only delaying
The issue at hand
So let’s stop the playing

Black lives matter
We’ve all heard it said
Too many young black men
Are winding up dead
Not just from cops
But from ourselves instead
I think enough blood
Has already been bled

Black lives matter
Is just a spotlight
A hash tag designed
On behalf of the fight
A glaring statement
That it isn’t right
We will not go gently
Into that good night

It’s high time that we
Begin to change course
As a way of showing
Our sincere remorse
Even if it takes
A movement to force
The changes we need
Will come in due course

Black lives matter
We’ve all heard it said
Too many young black men
Are winding up dead
Not just from cops
But from ourselves instead
I think enough blood
Has already been bled