Teach you that the police will
Protect you, unless you look like suspect,
like criminal, like perpetrator
Unless you look dark, as if the night
had swallowed you
Unless you look threatening,
look dangerous.
Unless you look at them
And see Jim Crow, because they
would not hesitate to silence the
Nat Turner in you so move slow.
Do not give them a reason to bury
you because they already think
that they are above you
But do not mistake your compliance
with defeat, because one wrong move
could turn you into a martyr for a
cause that you never intended to die for
They would not let you get out of the cradle
before putting you in the grave
To them you are subhuman,
They will turn you into a man before
you ever get to be a child and call you
boy far beyond your childhood
They will make you want to be violent,
want to be criminal, want to show them that
you have teeth. But you must stop,
And realize that it would not take a miracle
to move them, it would not take a miracle
to educate them on the social injustice that this country was founded on, it would not take a miracle for them to realize that you are human too.
And even when they try to take this from you,
Strip you of your humanity as if it were a privilege
You must remember, that you, are a miracle
