Come find me
Down by the river
Under the canopy of evergreen
This is where I'd rather be.
But through this smokescreen, unravelling
A taste of freedom cannot be
While others are suffering,
Engaged in a social justice war
Incredibly for a longtime ignored.
Black Lives Matter!
We scream for George,
And Breonna, And Elijah,
And Regis, to name just a few,
Deep-seated, systemic at its core,
No longer can we ignore,
For he is me,
And I is her
And I see their pain,
We are all enmeshed in this insanity.
Statues aren't history,
Racists don't deserve to stare down our communities.
Immortalize love!
Not hate, not genocide,
No justice, no peace,
Only war on the streets.
My sisters and brothers can't breathe
Because you have your fucking knee
On their neck,
On their back,
You hold them down
With viciousness so twisted in design,
Yet you get away with the crime.
Is this how fair and just societies work?
It's time for it to crumble
Like the statues we pull down.
Ashley Leslie 2020
