The America I See

Riding along on my way

Trying to have my best day

Look back in my rear view mirror and what do I see

Two police officers behind me

My mood changes from happy to fear

My stomach is in knots as I begin to think

About all the things that could happen

I just want to make it to my destination

As I turn the corner, they turn too

Nerves start flooding pictures in my mind

Of situations where police weren’t so kind

To people that look like me

This isn’t a game

Me being nervous for doing nothing wrong

Like I said, I just want to go home or to my destination

But unfortunately this is my plot in this nation

I know I’m not alone

My mind flooding with the videos I’ve seen from camera phones

Of my people dying and being disrespected at the hands of the police

Praying one day this will cease

To protect and serve

That is the police motto

But to people of color we have different rules to follow

And different thoughts too

Protect and serve to us isn’t true

More like kill and kill again

And for what

Just to hold some more power over us?

Blood is boiling as they drive past me

A sigh of relief but this isn’t it you see

The fact that I feel this way is a problem yet to be solved

Because we get all kinds of excuses why this cannot be resolved

The reality is to this country, Black lives really don’t  matter

But then you hear all excuses splatter

All conveniently disguised behind the saying All Lives Matter

But that isn’t true and you know it

And you don’t care

So when I see police, I tend to stare

Off into the space of life I want to see

Where being Black doesn’t paint me as an enemy