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Hopeless Outlet Jun 2020
Every single day
A life fades away
And every time I read an article
I wonder if one day someone will read my name.
The thoughts persist.
Taylor Jennica Jun 2020
He’s asleep.
Tonight, I held him tighter
and kissed him longer.

I wish my kisses were enough.
Were enough to shield him.
To protect him.

From the people that can’t get past his beautiful chocolate skin - long enough to see how wonderfully incredible he is.

He is a man that will always give a helping hand without complaint.

He is a man that never fails to brighten my day.

He is a man with a beautiful mind and heart.

He is a man that is thoughtful.
When I first moved into my apartment, he watched me jumble with my keys trying to find the right one.
So,
he went to the store and bought key covers so I knew which key went to which door.

Who thinks to do that?

Him.

He is a man that is patient, loving and chooses to see the good.

He is a man that is hard-working.

He is a man that will be an incredible father to our children someday.



He is so much more than just a black man.

It’s time the world sees that too.
Shofi Ahmed Jun 2020
Smelling money
reach out to the stars.
Knowing why
they gaze down though
upon the deep dark earth
need to be richer
than material matters!
Hussein Dekmak Jun 2020
A black man struggling to breathe,
A Yemeni child searching for a safe place,
A Palestinian man struggling to be free,
An African villager dreaming of clean drinking water!

A lonely man longing for company,
A homeless person dreaming of shelter,
A hungry child craving a home cooked meal,
An orphan yearning for a mother’s touch!

A disabled person dreaming about walking,
An elderly man wishing to visit his loved ones,
A sick patient praying to be free from the pain,
A COVID 19 patient wanting to get off the ventilator!

Sending love and a prayer to those who have such beautiful dreams.

Hussein Dekmak
Edited 2
Alicia Prakash Jun 2020
Part I

Mirror, mirror, on the wall
Will I live life and love,
Or will I fall
To fits of rage and terror
Kindness- a foreign quality
A sweet poison slowly blurring
The edges of my soul and sanity
Leaving a hole where
There once was light and laughter.
And void of painful questions
Without answers.

Part II
Mirror, mirror, oh my love
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful before
Those erudite eyes, that sweet smile, those lovely curves
Too bad, they can’t seem to calm my nerves
For it doesn’t matter when my skin is dusky
And that is a crime in the eyes of the ivory
Skinned officers who pledge their allegiance
To the rich and the fair
And not their country’s citizens.

Part III
Mirror, mirror oh so fake
Why do you distress me this way?
I hate what I see
But all I see is me
Show me my dreams
And not cold reality
For my actuality is bleak
Or so it feels
In my skinny fit jeans
For 13-year-olds
And not seventeen.
Lara Jun 2020
There will be no freedom until we’re equal

The world is one

Everybody is different
-
that connects us

The world is one big family

Treat everybody how you want to be treated

Don’t judge until you know someone

Everybody has feelings that can get hurt

Everybody has their own lifestory

Accepting is a part of life

Nobody matters
-
Until they matter to you

Everybody should have the same rights

The world is ONE

Freedom belongs to everybody

Everybody decides for themselves how they want to live their life

Everybody makes mistakes

But the world is united and should be treated like that

Everybody is on this earth for a reason

Don’t criticize, judge and make mistakes just because somebody behaves different, looks different or talks different

This is what makes our planet so special
-
Our differences
Corynne Dittrich Jun 2020
I've heard about the hate between black and white,
Can't anybody see? This is so not right.
The problems start but never end.
Can't they see? We can just be friends.
The world is full of chaos,
And I'm thinking to myself
"Look at us!"
Pain was here
But it just grew.
I'm sorry, was that not enough for you?
You chant "All Lives Matter" in the streets.
Who were the ones who used to dress up in sheets?
Yes we know ALL lives matter.
Yours, mines. His. Hers. Theirs.
But when I walk down the street
No one stares.
This issue is a cancer. We must cut it out.
Eradicate the disease,
Until there's no more shouts.
Calling all the cops who deserve this time.
If you didn't see it coming,
Don't do the crime.
You've scarred each family
From the people we've lost.
You did this crime,
Now you pay the cost.
Cuz...
When someone says get off my neck
With your knee,
Cop look at yourself.
Is this really who you wanna be?
What's the difference between black and white?
What really matters is if you're doing something right.
Just imagine what you're putting someone through,
When you're disabling them,
Labeling them,
Believing something that has never been true.
But know it's up to you.
You can change this from being so blue.
Because imagine if it happened to you.

By Corynne Dittrich, age 15
The Calm Jun 2020
Please write back to me and tell me how to protest,
Because I'm terrified of running into a bad cop, or privileged white people thinking they can make a citizens arrests

Please give me something else to do since you don't want me to take a knee,
To silently protest while you sing an anthem that represents you but doesn't represent me

Please teach me how protest ,
So you don't have to reproach me for my lack of decorum,
Give me something that will change the outcome
Cause people are dying and it seems you don't care , how come ?

We defend the indefensible crimes of those paid to protect us, and expect us to sit idly by as they **** us,
Turn on the news and watch
Watch them defend the good ole' boys in blue as they go through our history and berate us

Dear white people,
Why can I not yell and scream ?
To make up for the air taken from George Floyd's lungs as he whimpered I can't breathe

Breathe, an unequivocal human right
A knee to the neck, crushing the passage way,
from his eyes was gone the light
The sight, myself a black man that will raise black sons how can I not stare in fright?

Fright , fear in my heart from the sight
The new Jim Crow or the old one?
No ropes but we are still lynched
No dogs chasing us but still the same plight

Dear white white church,
You're probably the biggest problem of all.
All the political capital and still you don't answer our call.
So focused on abortion rights but don't seem to care about black babies when they get a little tall

Jesus was a man of color unjustfully killed
Jesus was a man of color unjustfully killed

Every black man and woman killed an image of Christ but it seems you've willed
Yourself into believing that God doesn't see
Your silence, you've been billed!
And no penance can pay the cost you owe
In the pockets of politicians
You've gone so low
Picking a party over people
You thought we wouldn't know ?
Its no surprise that Donald Trump would go to a church posing with a Bible
Appeasing you so
You fill his pockets with dollars so that the calamity never ends

Dear white allies
We appreciate you answering the call
The problem doesn't directly affect you but still you stand and stand tall
You are our professors, elders, neighbors , church members you give your energy , your passion, your privilege and you use it all

Dear white allies,
We're happy to call you friends
The work is far from done
Its never fun but friendships like this never end.
thoughts from a rough couple of weeks
Sparks fly, and people die;
A cycle that tends to repeat
Endlessly.

Bullets fly, across the sky;
People mourn and cry for love lost;
Grieving for their future days
That would never come,
That has paid the cost.

The cost of what may you ask?
The cost of being black.

Sparks are shot into the sky;
Blood is shot into the sky;
Sweat is shot into the sky,
Tears are shot into the sky,

For being of color,
An eye for an eye?

No? / Then I wonder why?

Why nothing is done until
A fatal outcome?
Why peaceful protests urge uproar,
While unarmed men lay pinned
In the street...
Beneath someone’s knee,
Unable to breathe?

Tell me.
Tell me what the answer is,
To stop the violence,
But most importantly,
To feel safe in my skin
With my melanin.

I love humanity, but this is a message
That needs to be known;
In hopes for all to be seen equally;
Not to feel estranged,
Or be a victim of prejudice,
Or alone.
Black lives matter. I wrote this when the protests and riots in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the world started. This poem is only the start of what I have to say and is certainly not the end. This is the first iteration of this piece, and I will not be responding to any hateful messages on this. It's all about love. It's all about understanding. That said, let us spread love. Let us understand in finality that hate doesn't solve a thing. This is only a fraction of the pain it causes, especially for those of color, which I understand firsthand. I will continue to hope for peace, and for an everlasting love that will bring forth the mutual and equal freedom for all that we have yet to reach. Keeping that hope alive.
SammyJoe Jun 2020
By the time you let go
It was too late
What was it with you
That consumed so much hate?

How you knelt down
On his neck for so long
Did nothing in you
Scream, Wait this is wrong?

How bout the words
"I can't breathe"
The humanity
To give A MAN some relief

To see life drain
From pleading eyes
There has got to
Be some evil inside

A grown man
Calling out for his mother
How you had
No love or care for this brother

Black, white or brown
Let's love one another
One thing is for sure
We all bleed the same colour

I guarantee now
You'll never forget
What you thought was nothing
Is histories biggest upset

The BLM movement
Worldwide protestings
Black & white marching
From your act resulting

In that moment in time
You hadn't a clue
Just what the results
Of your actions would do

If you'd known in that time
The after taste from your cup
Would be so bitter
You would have got up!

Police brutality, racism
And the latter
All I can say is
Black lives really do matter

The hurt the pain
The families destroyed
Guess now you'll always remember
The name George Floyd.
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