Breonna Bland Arbery-Floyd (a poem for the slain)

George Floyd

Watch hip-hop music video here

I’m tired, I’m tired, but also inspired

Time to vote folks out get these DAs fired

Grandmas stand in front of cops defendin’ they kids

Grandpops now the man of the house if they ain’t dead

And I ain’t watching more videos of me getting killed

Cause I see myself in every video that’s real

And if I don’t see me I see my whole family

My best friends, my students, my community

If you don’t see yourself where’s your humanity?

What you gonna do to stop this insanity?

If you won’t stand up for you will you stand for we?

Show that black lives matter, fight for unity?

But I’m a let you know we ain’t waitin’ for you

We gonna fight until “all lives matter” too

Before the next one is murdered, we gon’ see this through

And make change with the girls and the boys in blue

Let me also point this out ’fore I continue to rock

The McMichaels, Zimmerman and Roof ain’t cops

So when they murder us in church or on the block

They represent white supremacy and that whole flock

And along with these cops they represent a system

Designed to take a black man and convict and kill him

Aligned to take a black woman and make her a victim

Then put ’em both on trial to dehumanize them

Then put ’em on TV to verbally brutalize them

Then never share stories of these cops and brethren

Then they let these killers prep the same story

And rarely ever charge ’em with a felony

The justice system doin’ what it was built to do

Protect the cops at all costs no matter what they do

But real change is gonna come it’s long overdue

Cause we had something that we never had before…YOU!

Jamar Clark, Breonna Taylor, Ousman Zongo

Cameron Hall, Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo

Tamir Rice, Sean Bell, Jemel Roberson

Eleanor Bumpers, Walter Scott, Fred Hampton

Harith Augustus, EJ Bradford, Trayvon Martin

Lajuana Philips, Antwon Rose, RaShaun Washington

Daniel Simmons, Robert White, Tony Green

Clemente Pickney, Philando, Botham Jean

Sandra Bland, Stephon Clark, Alberta Spruill,

Nathaniel McCoy, Russell, Travares McGill,

Cameron Hall, Yvette Smith, Anthony Hill

John Crawford, Danroy Henry, Emmett Till

Yusef Hawkins, Michael Brown, George Floyd

Jerame Reid, Kayla Baker, Rekia Boyd

Juan Jones, Miriam Carey, Jordan Edwards

Atatania, Ahmaud Arbery, Medgar Evers

Deantea Farrow, Danny Thomas, Linwood Lambert

Marcus David-Peters, Diante, Michael Stewart

Malisa Williams, Claudia Gonzalez,

Ronnell Foster, Prince Jones, Anthony Baez

Jordan Baker, Henry Glover, Tony Robinson

James Brisette, Shem, Tanesha Anderson

Shermichael Ezeff, Freddie Gray, Ronald Madison

Oscar Grant, Ayana Jones, Dondi Johnson

Raheim Brown, Victor Steen, Cedric Chatman

Timothy Thomas, Aaron Campbell, Tarika Wilson

Ajibade, David Raya, Steven Washington

Nehemiah, Orlando, Patrick Dorisman

Ramarley Graham, Terence Crutcher, Daniel Simmons

Manuel Diaz, Alesia, Tamon Robinson

And to all the Chris Coopers and the coulda-beens

Could be you or me tomorrow, we must never give in!