Between the No Knocks and Stand Your Ground Laws…
people of color have become fair game;
but IT’S NOT A GAME!
hashtag Insert Name,
another Brother or Sister slain;
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, it’s too many to name.
hashtag IT’S TOO MUCH!
hashtag I CAN’T BREATHE!
hashtag HANDS UP!
hashtag FIND OUR GIRLS!
hashtag SAY HER NAME!
hashtag BLACK BOYS DESERVE TO GROW UP TOO!
hashtag SAY HIS NAME!
The writings on the wall…
hashtag BLACK LIVES MATTER!
Yet another Brother or Sister slain…
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, hashtag Insert Name,
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, it’s become mundane.
Between Jim Crow and COINTELPRO…
people of color have always been fair game;
yet IT’S NOT A GAME!
hashtag Insert Name,
hashtag REMEMBER HARRIET MOORE!
hashtag REMEMBER HARRY MOORE!
hashtag REMEMBER ADDIE MAE COLLINS!
hashtag REMEMBER CYNTHIA WESLEY!
hashtag REMEMBER CAROLE ROBERTSON!
hashtag REMEMBER CAROL DENISE MCNAIR!
hashtag REMEMBER EMMETT TILL!
hashtag…
another Mother,
another Father,
another Sister,
another Brother slain;
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, it’s too many to name.
They killed MARTIN,
They killed MEDGAR,
They killed MALCOLM,
hashtag HIM, hashtag HIM, hashtag THEM;
there goes the eyewitness news team,
hashtag ANOTHER BLACK MALE SLAIN.
They killed FRED HAMPTON,
They killed ZAYD MALIK SHAKUR,
They killed CHRISTOPHER WALLACE,
They killed TUPAC SHAKUR,
hashtag HIM, hashtag HIM, hashtag THEM;
there goes another Black Voice slain,
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, it’s become mundane.
Between Colonialism and The U.S. Correctional System…
people of color have always been fair game;
but IT’S NOT A GAME!
hashtag THE WAR ON DRUGS IS CHEMICAL WARFARE.
I guess all that is fair is foul and all that is foul is fair…
Why’d they impose The Rockefeller Drug Laws after they put the needle in our veins?
Why’d the Reagan Administration flood our neighborhoods with crack cocaine?
Why the land of the free wanna keep us in chains?
they shackled AFENI,
they shackled ASSATA,
they shackled ANGELA,
hashtag HER, hashtag HER, it’s too many to name.
hashtag FREE ANGELA,
hashtag HANDS OFF ASSATA,
hashtag SAY HER NAME!
hashtag REMEMBER FREE HUEY,
hashtag REMEMBER H. RAP BROWN,
hashtag THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE MOVEMENT that are still locked in the slammer.
hashtag THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED, hashtag THIS AINT A MOVIE.
hashtag I AM ELAINE BROWN!
hashtag I AM FANIE LOU HAMER!
hashtag ALL THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE…
hashtag REMEMBER FREE THE SOLEDAD BROTHERS!
hashtag FREE MUMIA!
hashtag FREE MUTULU!
hashtag BRING OUR POLITICAL REFUGEES BACK!
hashtag STAY WOKE, we’re under attack.
hashtag THEY UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TRIED TO WIPE US OUT WITH HEROIN AND CRACK.
hashtag WHY ARE ALL THE PRISONS FILLED WITH BROWNS AND BLACKS?
Why’d the Clinton Administration privatize the prisons then impose the Clinton Crime Bill?
How’d we go from the North American Free Trade Agreement to Omnibus Crime Bill?
Why do they cut school budgets and mandate money for prisons to be built?
Why do they fail to prosecute the police when people of color are killed?
How long are we going to pretend we don’t see the genocide supervised by every U.S. President from Nixon to Clinton?
In the land of the free… police get off scot-free when they blatantly murder people that look like me;
meanwhile, my Freedom Fighters are still caged in prisons.
Pay Attention:
hashtag SUNDIATA STILL AINT FREE!
hashtag HERMAN BELL STILL AINT FREE!
hashtag VERONZA BOWERS STILL AINT FREE!
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, another Brother or Sister in chains.
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, hashtag Insert Name.
hashtag FREEDOM NEVER RINGS IF YOUR BLACK IN AMERICA!
My heart is heavy, they bombed the levees
after they couldn’t drown us with heroin and crack in America.
Freedom Never Rings… even the Liberty Bell dabbled with crack;
aint that America.
hashtag THE SCALES OF JUSTICE ARE UNBALANCED IN AMERICA!
Make America Great Again they exclaim;
yet Lady Liberty wears shackles and chains.
hashtag REMEMBER THE STATUE OF LIBERTY’S REDDISH BROWN COLOR,
hashtag REMEMBER HER SHACKLES,
hashtag REMEMBER HER CHAINS.
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER,
hashtag ALL THE PEOPLE OF COLOR THAT HAVE SHACKLED AND CHAINED.
hashtag LESS PRISONS MORE SCHOOLS,
hashtag STAY WOKE, THE AMERICAN DREAM AINT COOL.
Woop-woop! There goes the sound of the police,
another Brother or Sister fondled by the beast…
another Brother or Sister detained,
another Mother restrained,
another Father restrained,
another Sister restrained,
another Brother restrained.
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, Insert Name.
hashtag HIM, hashtag HER, it’s become mundane.
–@StevieStreets #hashtag #poem | Hashtag: #(insert name) parts I, II, and III
