There's a trail of blood
Perhaps only I see,
It goes from southern mud
To Maryland's grandest city.
Baltimore is burning
And they say violence isn't the answer
Even though violence has stricken us
A cancer
Growing, growing
To consume the mind
An eye for an eye
When the whole world seems blind
To our plight.
Who will fight our fight for us?
You took our leaders
And no number of statues
Will replace their voice and presence
I'll take it back to my adolescence
Back,
To a talk you do not question
"The Talk" as a Black youth
The horror story
Filled with tragedy and twisted allegory
"Remember in the end
It just may come down to your skin"
And why is this preached
To each and every one
Under the supposed free
American sun?
I thought we were all
America's sons!
Guess again,
Dress the conversation in
The darkest suit your mind can conceive
My life is a little "I have a dream"
A little"I can't breathe"
Hands raised on my knees
Not to praise
But to beseech
"Mr. Officer Please not me!!!"
Because I remember the teachings
All while I'm stuck here beseeching
And retelling myself what year it is
Damn the Knowledge of the fact
The whiteness I lack
Fucks me, be it 1960 or 2015
The facts are straight
The streets are mean
Just like the country sticks
And I'm just steadfast trying to fit
Into a society set against me.
There's just no relenting
But I shouldn't be angry
I'm told, I'm told, I'm told
Time unfolds
And behold!
Anger has bettered suppression
The beast in me
Defeats the longing to assimilate
I bled when lead penetrated
An unarmed Floridian teen
You see I'm a little Trayvon Martin
I'm a little Martins Dream
But you forgot
There was a little Malcolm in-between
And after this attack on my race
You've declared war by any means
Trust that it wasn't me
That stirred this aggression
It was the transgressions
Legislatively and physically
Which does not lessen
They preached peace for long enough
At times reality is tough
But believe the time for pushing back
Has dawned
Ire Birthed by political yawns towards our pleas
Suppressions symphony
Squelching our voice with ease
Perhaps they'll change their tune
If they bleed...
So now Baltimore Is Burning.