Justice for Elijah

A black boy's throat was slit by a white man who felt unsafe because black boy was listening to rap music / because being while black is a crime punishable by death / black boy will not come home or see the new year because a white man said no / do you know the energy it takes to slit a human throat and kill / these clouds cannot be thought or prayed away / what use is putting names in a poem when there were other names before / when there will be other names again / because we are all black boy aren't we / dipped in sin / in shame / in thug / in watch out for black boy / in a nigger will kill you if you don't kill him first / did you know white men are the only ones who can feel unsafe / did you know trayvon was a liar and zimmerman was a hero / isn't that how the story goes / isn't that how it went down in court / we been at war / we been on this side of the gun / the knife / the law / we been unsafe / we been afraid / we been having to get shit done anyway / in the face of white men / in the face of white woman's tears / white girl cries rape / cries he kissed me / cries he whistled / cries he thought about touching my breast / cries i dreamed about a black boy like him / like you / like me / like our children's lives are not worth living / like my pulse can't stop racing / like being a mother to a black boy is the hardest job i know / like black girls don't have it easier / like black girls are a threat / come up missing / dead / ignored / like we may as well fight back / ask sandra bland / ask latasha harlins / ask mamas and daddies all over this world / this living ain't easy / think i don't be asking god every day / think i don't wonder why / why these bruises / why this injustice / why this pain / you think god talk back to me / you think i know / think i ain't gotta send my son out into this world every day anyway / bet i wonder why / bet my tongue sharp as a knife went cross black boy's throat / bet / bet / bet we keep coming back / bet we stay strong