Martin looted nothing,
Martin burned nothing,
Martin attacked no one,
reads tone-deaf Karen’s
tone-deaf meme
Why can’t you just do that?
she offers
Not to the police,
nor the military,
both armed to the teeth,
fingers itching on the trigger
No, her demand
for non-violence
is directed solely
at those whose cries
for equality are
still left unanswered
Ignoring the vast
majority of protestors
who are peaceful
Equating a broken store
window with violence,
like shattered glass
somehow matches
firing seven bullets
into someone’s back
Why can’t you respond
like Martin did?
she wonders,
That’s an awful lot to ask,
considering King’s protests
were only non-violent
on one side
Your meme speaks volumes,
Karen, and this is what I hear:
Why can’t you just write
letters from the prison cell
they lock you inside
for peacefully protesting?
While the government
tracks and taps you,
considering you
a national threat
Why can’t you march
peacefully across the bridge,
knowing you’ll return
beaten and bloody,
at the hands of the law,
if you return at all?
Why don’t you offer
your brain to the baton,
your tender thigh
to the sharp daggers
of the dog’s mouth?
Hoping that a camera is rolling,
hoping that *this* time
some white American
will be watching
and *this* time,
they will finally give a shit
that they will finally decide
after fifty-five years -
hell, after four-hundred years -
that your life…
mattered
While we debate
and evade the simple
recognition of your value,
why can’t you stand there
peacefully waiting?
While bullets,
rubber and real,
fly in your direction
from a peaceless officer
or from some kid
crossing state lines
to use your body
as target practice?
Let me sit back
in my comfortable privilege
asking you,
Why can’t you just be killed
peacefully, like Martin,
letting your brilliance
drip onto the street,
hoping your blood
will be what finally
makes us realize
that you mattered
30 Aug 2020
