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California | Police State and PrisonsFACE DOWN
Of the police brutality cases that transpired nationwide in 2009, none have gotten more coverage and public interest than two from the San Francisco Bay Area: Lovell Mixon and Oscar Grant. Grant's unprovoked murder at the hands of Bay Area Rapid Transit police on New Year's morning brought an insurrection in the streets of Oakland, which brought Mehserle's arrest and court hearings. Since certain Bay Area Rapid Transit police members have quit and been promoted and there's news about moving the Mehserle murder trial to Southern California, I felt the following poem is appropriate. I welcome any and all responses. FACE DOWN
by Dee Allen. ___________ Smashed vehicle windows Cannot scream. Burning dumpsters Cannot unleash their agony into the smoky evening sky. Neither damaged T-Mobile nor McDonald’s nor Wells Fargo Can feel pain. Underground subways Cannot fight their sudden closure. So there’s no need to wring hands & agonise Over property destruction. Demolished property Can be replaced. The once Full lives Taken by law enforcement Never are. Brutality, never an “accident.” It’s systemic And replicates itself In different cities to the nth degree. Bleeding Stony hearts blame such handiwork On “a few bad apples.” And everyone knows How that tired old maxim goes. Tell that to the last Victim inside the chalkline. Reason for anger, Cause for alarm, Millions have seen. Father of one, Age 22. First cruel hours Of the new year. Young witnesses. Four cops. Facepunch. Submission. Face down. Cold concrete. Triggerlust. Hot lead. Close range. Loud boom. Backwound. Panicscreams. Slowbleed. Here lies Father of one, Age 22. Face down. Subway platform Was the killing field. The truth cannot be erased, Try as the guilty might, Covering their crime. Father of one, Age 22. His name joins A seemingly endless Sea of names, Compendium of martyrs To their same last sights: Uniforms & weapons drawn. Manifested Needless State violence Upon the unarmed. A little Black girl of four In Hayward goes to bed Without her father tucking her in. A Brown woman sleeps Without her lover’s face to awaken to the next morning. Reason for anger, Cause for alarm. The powderkeg Called Oakland exploded twice. Now that a legitimised Slayer has been captured & released Into the general public on bail, A new explosion looms over the future’s horizon. More fire Put to the ‘keg. Perhaps the murderer’s protectors Will take notice this time Because that young father they’ve targeted Was one of us - He could’ve been anyone Anyone’s son, anyone’s brother, Anyone’s neighbor, anyone’s friend Anyone Black & Brown Could be the one in submission, lying face down In the path of a lethal device Engineering their quick demise. __________________________ [For Oscar Grant III - 1986-2009.] |
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