ENOUGH!
ENOUGH!
Sad again in my dismay,
Frequency’s bitter
Frustration
All and each time I see
One more act of violence gratuitous:
Official misconduct
An act of rage
Here one of murder
Victim by mob
Drive bye
Ambush;
Bullies at it again.
Fractured skulls,
Blood oozes out of
Kinetic invasive holes,
Suffocated by the weight
Of authority
Committing injustice.
Shot for revenge, shot by mistake
Instigated by a petty diss.
Whether by policemen
Wardens, prison guards
Thugs
Or gang banger,
Acts
Against the innocent,
Against the guilty,
Against the non-resisting,
Against a person robbed
Against a person black
Against a person poor
Against a person white
Against the gay
Against a person Latino
Against a person Asian
Against a person aged
Against a person young
Against a woman.
What it is
Is an attack against justice,
Against the nation
Against our peace
Against our future;
An attack
Against us all.
We all can get mad enough
To harm and kill,
When will we get mad enough
To stop it?
When will you stop worrying
About your own damn self
And give a damn
About the soon to be dead?
When will you stop believing
It never happens here?
When it comes to your own porch,
Your own house,
Your own son,
Your own baby girl?
When will we stop excusing
Those with badges
Those ones who protect only
Themselves
When in fear they beat our children,
Shoot them, lie, and cover up?
When will we stop being afraid
When policemen pull us over,
Or walk on a street
Filled with young black men
Who pass us by?
When will uniforms
Dance with tattoos
And studs and rings?
When will hoodies
Be a style without guile
Meant for cold and rain?
When will men who make babies
Stay home to raise them?
When will courage
Replace machismo insecurity?
When will love of neighbor
Replace our callous disregard?
When will risk
Be what we take
To protect another
Instead of saving ourselves?
We live in a land
Where our soldiers
Don’t abuse us.
They carry no weapons here
They don’t rob or terrify,
We do it to ourselves.
Stop letting baby boys teach
Baby boys
The way of the street;
Its fathers who make boys into men!
Neither paranoia,
Nor cruelty, mean or harsh control
Will stop this bloodbath.
Family, dignity, identity, self-respect,
Love that lead to confidence,
Strength that affords kindness
Power that protects.
Give me some damn men in these
Streets!
Show us a better way.
When will uniforms
Dance with fades and homies
And pride be found
In workman’s clothes
And not in sagging pants?
When will cops and black men see
Beyond what they expect,
Find a treasure in the other
Change those feared into friend.
Enough with this eye for an eye shit,
Or soon we’ll never see our way
Out of it.
Randy Nabors