Thursday, June 25, 2020

day TWELVE HUNDRED and FIFTY FIVE

Rise Up

“Not the hymn of promise but the body’s bright wailing against its limits.” – Danusha Lameris

Juneteenth during the summer of pandemic:
Black, white, every culture and gender
cry out in unified protest, “No more police violence!”
Those of conscience reject tasers, tear gas, chokeholds,
knees pressed on necks of the fallen.

Demonstrators chant as they march,
raise banners, wave picket signs,
share personal stories of experience, witness.
Relentless, unjustified homicides
have broken the back of silent complacence.

It’s past time for militarized officers
to stop terrorizing, misusing power.
Outraged communities rise up as one,
rebel against 400 years of oppression,
demand reallocation of funding, resources.

--Jennifer Lagier

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