Black lives matter
Not a war cry, but a plea
An affirmation, united nation
A cry of passion and a
call to action
The coming together
Of "we"
All lives matter--or rather--
White lives matter
When the police say, please
Put the gun down, cease!
As our brothers and sisters lie deceased
In the streets
With their murders captured, viral, shared
Not a human, but a piece of meat

The enemy of the people
The enemies of "we"
Sit high upon their thrones
Dictating laws for you
And me
They tell us we are free
While they force us to our knees
Our enemy is not beside but
The persons above, who reside
"They" "the man" "big brother" "the suits"
Obama, Trump, Clinton--Bernie Sanders, too
United we stand, united "they" fall
And perhaps, on that day, we can say "all"

But for now
Black Lives Matter
To fight is our choice
The power is in the people and
Our collective voice
Stand together, make things better
And hear humanity rejoice

please dont touch my crown
the black rubies were encrusted by steve biko
madam cj walker made it a sign of royalty
blood was shed for this ***** hair
i am a servant to this crown, and i will show my loyalty.

please dont touch my crown
i can feel the curlism in your fingers
your greedy hands appropriate it for relevance
you have hated volume and colour for centuries
but now you see beauty where you once saw pestilence.

please dont touch my crown
let your eyes feast on the sight of true glory
forget about vanity, and hear our chains
taste our dry blood, smell our lynched bodies
but never touch our hair without remembering our pain.

- t.m

We’ve slept for too long...
slumbered thru the day.
hate has grown strong
and we all stand amazed.
staring at the blaze
of a culture on fire.
who will douse the flames
of the outraged and tired.
if we’re silent while it matters
we’ll never see change,
as tyrants rise to power
keeping people afraid.
Dr. King dream spoke of resolution,
now the blood of our kids
is the fuel of revolution.
Justice will prevail
by man or by God.
In our lives or our kids’
against all odds.
To endure for the justice
of the unlawfully slain.
We need the power
held by the blood of ultimate grace.
Jesus.

That word. Enough.
It rings with impatience.
Enough. What is Enough.

For me. Enough. Is too much.
Enough. Is a spectrum. Of opposing sides.
On one end. Those who have had Enough.
On the other. Those who haven't had Enough.
On one end. Those who die because of Enough.
On the other. Those who live because of Enough.

People claim that All Lives Matter.
But they haven't mattered Enough.
Black Lives Matter. But they haven't Enough.
On that spectrum of skin from Black to White.
This country's decided where Enough is.
Right on the line where you matter
Just not Enough for change.
Not Enough
Not Enough
Not Enough

So when. Is Enough. When is that.
When will Enough. Actually be Enough.

These people surely have had Enough.
But clearly not Enough for you.

Brother, the stilts you stand on scare me.
Towering high to rip down our sun
And leave us all in darkness.
You shout down at me fast, and passionately.
You feel this in your heart, but my God
Can I feel the beat through my entire body.
It should be shaking the melanin right off
Of your middle class skeleton, strong
With the calcium of tall men's lies.
Take those stilts off, and walk a mile
With us, fighting our bodies to fetch
Our water, brown and thick with their ****.
I am appalled. Life is dangerous enough,
Without people like you, blending into the night,
With only your wickedly naive eyes giving you away.

police
brutality
breeds
mob
mentality.

how
do
we
fix
the
world
before
the
next
fatality?

400 years America ,
For 400 years America, we've been playing this game of cat and mouse, and for 400 years America, you refuse to give us the keys to the house.
For 400 years America , we've been asking to be free, and for 400 years America , you sat there and you promised me, all the freedom I could ask for , for just a small fee
For 400 years America , we've been paying that small fee in sweat, and a concenratred mixture of tears and blood
For over  400 years America , we've had to watch our people bleed , for over 400 years America , you've literally scorched and scathered and destroyed our seed.
For over 400 years America our sons, daughters, fathers , mothers have bled and for over 400 years tear after tear was shed
The flags that represent you, make you free . But the same flags that represent you, don't represent me. The flags that say "all men are created equal" considered me an animal and there seemed to never be a sequel.
400 years later and still "no refuge can save, the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave" I am not blind, don't need a stick or a stave, I am not foolish, I see the road that you page

The ghost of Freddie Gray,
rest in a shallow grave,
they say this is “The Land of The Free”,
so why they still treat us like slaves?

The current policed state of the Police State,
gives serious cause for alarm,
I Can't Breathe Hands Up Don't Shoot!
see it’s the 21st Century there’s cell phones,
so now we have proof That that young black man was unarmed…

See the situation in Ferguson,
it’s far from certain when,
conditions are worsen and,
the people are still hurtin' and,
we don't even have time to mourn,
before the police **** another one,
6 more kids killed since Michael Brown,
the problem didn't start with Ferguson.

Seriously,
it's got me thinking "What's going on?",
but I’m more Queen than Marvin Gaye,
still straight away they shot another one,
BANG,

and another one BANG,
and another one BANG,
and another one bites the dust…
BANG!

Just ask the family of Rumain Brisbon,

shot by an officer,
who mistook a bottle of pills for a gun,
the officer leaves behind two hot Glock shells,
while Brisbon leaves behind a daughter and a son,

then there's Eric Gardner,
who's ****** was caught on tape,
undercover cops strangled him to death with an illegal chokehold,
left the general public in dismay and disarray,
his only crime was selling some cigarettes,
but the cops killed him in a hurry,
this was an obvious homicide,
still no inditement by the **** Grand Jury!

So come really,
if we can't even get a single conviction,
on a single cop,
for a single shot shot without permission,
then what hope is there left to hope in,
it's as if the rope is tied around my neck and I'm chokin',
I thought to provoke a riot instead I decided to make this thought provokin',
if the pen mightier than the sword,
then we need to write a way right away to get these closed cases re-opened!

They say that just to have a driver's license is a privilege not a right,
while They make us feel like it’s a privilege just to survive in this life,
it shouldn't have to feel like a privilege just to survive,
while they're taking everything from us including our rights and our lives,
and the media tries to force us to take sides,
like I am against blacks because I'm white,
yeah cops have killed a lot of Black kids,
but that fact is that cops **** more Whites,
because it's not the color of the skin I’m in,
it's the color of the suit that one’s wearin,’
that really decides who's on who's side,
so who’s gonna live,
and who’s gonna die?

Boys in blue with a badge to **** at will,
anxiety of the All Seeing Eye on me makes me feel ill,
so much stress,
I can't take it,
I'm at home all alone,
laying in bed naked,
thoughts of dying brothers,
and crying mothers,
all done by undercover killers undercover,
they **** like ****,
where's Will.i.am,
"Where's The Love", where's the lovers?

No more Fergie,
just more Ferguson,
no more Taboo,
just more taboo killings when,
will we finally have some peace,
Jesus,
we just,
need to be free but,
they have us caught under an iron fist,
book us in and take our fingerprints,
tap our phones and put us on 'the list',
I thought this was supposed to be,
the land of the free,
but what the fck is this?
Feeling like Eric Garner I can't breathe,
just give me a bit of room please,
can't I at least,
get some groceries without the PDs harassing me?

Jeez.

Meanwhile,
back on the front lines,
it's the 4th quarter,
crunch time,

while we shout out,
“Black Lives Matter!”
they’ve got their clubs out,
like “Swing batter batter!”

while we write rhymes,
and debate the details,
they're gearing up for war,
reading our emails with a pledged allegiance to an empire of evils,

coming in like Stormtroopers,
with automatic weapons and combat boots,
and the whole time we're standing there on the Front Lines,
waiving our arms up high like, ”Hands Up, Don't Shoot!"


∆aron L∆ Lux ∆

i cannot sleep
i am wired with fury
flooding, storming
through my veins choking my heart
burning a hole in my stomach
because another black body has been
stolen
a heart
stopped
a voice
silenced
at the hands of an officer
(serve & protect?)
dried blood has hardened on the corners
of the pages of the book he was holding
when he was murdered
and now his name will become a
headline
a hashtag
and who will explain to his son
why he couldn't make it to the bus stop?
why wasn't his life worth protecting
why is his death an argument
why isn't anyone
l i s t e n i n g
while black folk are on the streets
s c r e a m i n g
blacklivesmatter
but the killing doesn't stop
and the blood is always fresh
and that is why
i cannot sleep tonight.

t.m.      1:29 am