A vision

They say that it's visionary uncommonly known

To find your power stood behind a microphone

But the words are a painting, Vincent Van Gough

Not your typical masterpiece, I switch up strokes

The voice is a frequency, shows lexical ability, opinions, facts or political affinity

So where are the voices of my young black family

When will you see the importance of our black lives mattering

When did the abundance of a pigment become a reason to be searched

My brother gets shot but the cop's feelings were hurt?

He wasn't being polite enough or showing that respect

Tell that to my ancestors with the ropes around their necks

No I'm not bitter, though there's lemonade in my system

Won't admit to failure so they place blame with the victim

Sorry now where's the justice in the twisted view

That you killed a brother and his family should be thanking you?

Labelled as a thug, a bum, a dealer or a hustler

What? are you afraid of what he could be on the cusp of

On the cusp of greatness but they threaten jail to silence him

Too scared of change to exemplify the drive within

He's black and hooded assumed guilty with a loaded gun

They light the fire and then claim his was the smoking one

Strapped to his waist, by the stitch of his denim seam

Could be a capri-sun and you'll still swear you saw the barrel gleam

We wonder why so many don't aspire to the men in suits

When it's their oppression making victims of our black youth

Manners maketh man but being black doesn't make you guilty

Try and wash the blood off but to them you'll still be filthy

You say they're just cop killers with an agenda full of hatred

When it's you with the views that are ignorant and out-dated

When each brother has to fear a broken brakelight

The same mother fears she might not see her son tonight

But tell yourself that we're the ones with the problem

The bitter, the bigots, the hostile, rough and wrong ones

Resist arrest and we just get labelled

We'd like to comply if only we were able

To respond to a question without a black fatality

But white privilege still denies its brutality

Through class actions but then dismissed lawsuits

The body cameras showed they'd fabricated their truth

With each week we hear another shooting; shameless

Yet institutions rake their bonuses, blameless

Willingly ignorant, they stay shielding their eyes

Instead they keep wielding their guns and promoting their lies

They see Black lives matter and they detract from our movement

We don't want explanations just the means for improvement

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-Halle Bertie