You oppress a people long enough…

You proclaim your Superiority over them with curses and clubs…
You say “#AllLivesMatter” but the asterisk tattooed on your soul reveals your lie…
You declare your nation is Christian but it is a white-washed tomb full of black and brown men’s bones.

You oppress a people long enough…

You cling your Bible and your guns forgetting the lynching of your not-white Savior…
You beat your chest asking for mercy but show none to your black sister and brother…
You claim the Bible and the Constitution protect your freedom: Another asterisk.

You oppress a people long enough…

Your hypocrisy is a boot to the head…
Your apathy is a knee on his neck…
Your indifference is the gun that fires into his body sixteen times.

Sixteen times.
Sixteen times.
Sixteen times.

You oppress a people long enough…

Your failure to look at the chalk outline on the street…
Your blind eye toward the mother whose son was murdered…
Your refusal to #sayhername #sayhisname #saytheirnames…
These are the sins that make you complicit, holding the coats of those who pull the trigger.

You oppress a people long enough…

You do not love your neighbor.
You do not love the God you cannot see.
You do not love The Other whom you can see.
Blood is on your hands with every shot, every kick, every chokehold.

You oppress a people long enough…

They will rise up
  …without you
  …in spite of you
  …because of you

And you act surprised there’s a revolution coming.

Click for the Periscope footage of the November 24, 2015 #LaquanMcDonald protest breaching a police line in Chicago. Before you rush to judge them, tell me what you would do if it were your 17 year old son who had been executed like THIS and like so many other young people.