Headlines

by Dayana Lee

Red, white, and blue

Here come the sirens

Only to dance

With the little girls on the corner

There’s a war in the streets

Nobody speaks

And now a boy laying on the ground

Headlines

I made the headlines ma,

I’m finally famous

I even have a hashtag trending with my name

You did say I was an angel that i’d be special

so why you crying ma?

Officer Johnson,

he more famous than me though

headline stated “superhero officer kills black thug saves city“

when did I become a terrorist?

I was born black so i’m a threat

Grimm reaper done already written me nonexistent

when mom pushed me out we breed death?

I just wanted to see 18

but 15 saw me lay lifeless on a street I grew up on.

I died hearing them laugh at my cries for momma for pops for somebody to help

But justice knows no black.

They wanted me to fit the description

that they’ve made about black girls and boys

stop crying ma,

It’s not lonely it’s thousands of us up here.

Just make sure my little brothers and sisters

Are not engraved in the pavement outside our house too.

I still wish heaven could’ve waited for me

cause it’s getting a little cramped for space up here.

I asked God

why do they kill everything black?

It’s eerie

The way bullets just be in the wind now

searching for a black body to claim.

My people have become walking prisoners awaiting our death trials

I just hope that my people do me more justice than a hashtag.

Mommy you said God had a purpose for me was it death?

I had my hands up

and they still shot me

Mommy I did everything they asked

and they still killed me.

I knew it would be me.

I knew it would be.

I knew it would.

I knew it.

Momma. Don’t forget me please…