Thoughts As I Protest

I pack my bag with water, face masks, and snacks

I tell my mother goodbye, hopefully not for the last time

Scared that it very well may be the last time

We start at 161 st near Yankee Stadium

The field across the street is where I used to play soccer in middle school

That’s when George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin

Today the crowd wore T-Shirts with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor

I scream “No Justice, No Peace” for we have known neither

Nothing has changed

We marched across the bridge towards Harlem

NYPD looked on as if this was a joke

Like some children throwing a tantrum

They swung their batons and rested their hands on their rifles

In case my Black skin posed a threat

We walked down Malcolm X Boulevard

and MLK Boulevard, and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard

Leaders who led marches through these streets some odd 60 years ago

I wonder if they would be proud of us

or just immensely sad

Sad that their sons and daughters must only know the struggle

That the better future they hoped to build is still just beyond reach

But as they did, I see the light at the end of the tunnel

So I march on and scream

I scream at the buildings, at the people in them

I scream at the police, at their guns, and their handcuffs

I scream at the government and the powers that be

I scream because it has been silent for far too long

I scream because Sandra Bland can’t

Because Tamir Rice can’t

Because so many lives can’t anymore

Before long, we end up walking 10 miles

I do not even notice the pain in my feet

Or how hoarse my voice is getting

But I march on and scream

I march on

And scream