American Standard

Sean Bell
Oscar Grant
Yusef Hawkins
Arthur McDuffie
Timothy Stansbury
Kimani Gray
Aaron Campbell
Wendell Allen
Amadou Diallo
Patrick Dorismond
Johnny Gammage
Jonathan Ferrell
Eric Garner
Ezell Ford
John Crawford III
Michael Brown

…just to name a few.

All unarmed.

From 2006 to 2012, a cop killed a black person at least twice a week in this nation.

People talk about striving to live the American Dream all the time.  But dreams are for the hopeful.  And those who don’t have their right to live threatened daily by those who are sworn to protect the public.

Killing black people is the now the American Standard.  Desensitized to black death.  Dismissive of black life.

John Crawford III was playing with a toy gun in Walmart a few days ago when he got gunned down by Ohio cops.  I didn’t hear about one cop overreacting and unloading his clip into a crowd of those gun enthusiasts who were carrying firearms into all of those businesses a few months ago.  Not a one.

A couple of the names above were lying face down on the ground when cops shot them.  In the back.

This has gone way past ridiculous.
Folks want to rebel.
Folks want to retaliate.
Folks need to reassess.
Folks want revenge.

This is the standard here in America.  Land of the free to shoot any ol’ brother.  Home of the brave cops that fire on unarmed minorities.

This is the American Standard.  Ask Trayvon.  Ask the Central Park Five.  Ask Emmett.  Ask Medgar.  Ask the Scottsboro Boys.  Ask Louis Allen.  Ask Isaac Woodard.  Ask Ossian Sweet.  Ask the Freedom Riders.  Ask the victims of the 1920 lynchings in Duluth, MN.  You should see the postcard.

Reminds me of the Red Summer of 1919,
just spread throughout the entire year now.
The summers have been red ever since.  Really don’t care if you ain’t convinced.
There’s a plethora of evidence.

Earth, Wind, and Fire says, “That’s the way of the world.”
Singing songs to raise the spirit, as we raise spirits to our fallen’s memories.
All of this is standard.  This is what we do.

But standards are made to be broken.
And, soon, a day’s a-coming.  Like the Negro spirituals of old,

“I don’t feel no ways tired,
I’ve come too far from where I started from.
Nobody told me that the road would be easy,
I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me.”

But that’s undated and antiquated.
An obsolete consensus not fit for today.

Folks are gettin’ tired.
Folks are gettin’ tired.
My people have been tired.
We’re all fucking tired.

I’m getting tired of talking.

This is gonna stop.
Shit’s about to pop.

Powder keg meets Molotov.
Unity at last.