Blood on the Leaves
For years we've been oppressed, battered, bleeding, and yet recently, we’re told to wait, give the justice system time, be patient. A personal favorite, in America we’re innocent until proven guilty, always quickly thrown around when discussing whether or not an officer brutally killed any of us. How can officers be innocent until proven guilty, yet we’re killed while running away? Does the justice system only apply to those who are the administrators of it? I’ve found a way to be mostly silent over the thirty years I’ve existed. What I’ve seen over the past few weeks has taken a toll on my spirit. My soul bleeds each time I see a father/brother/uncle/son shot down. Each time I type the words, “severed spine,” each time I hear them compare us to monkeys. It hurts, but guess what, protesters do not protest for the support of racist white Americans. And like each and every ethnic group in this country, founded on the backs of immigrants, we deserve a right to live, to be heard, and like Israel, exist.
But they hate us so much. You can disagree, but why else would they beat, kill, harass us in the way they do? When I was younger, around 18, I believed people who thought cops were the enemy were ridiculous. Stay out of trouble, and they won’t bother you, I thought. Until one night.
We were all joking and playing around outside a friend’s house in South Los Angeles when two cop cars pulled up. The officers hopped out of the car like they were looking for fugitives. And then it happened. I saw one of the white officers pull his gun on my friend. My friend who did nothing wrong, but quickly put his hands in the air. They searched all of the guys in the group while I gave them an earful of our rights, much to my friends’ dismay. When the officer got to me, he suddenly stopped. They left to go behind a house we were next to and a while later came out with a Hispanic man in handcuffs. I screamed at them.
We always fit the damn description.
I’m tired of watching my people die. I tired of watching people with power use it against us, rather than for us.
We need to unite. If the crips and bloods can come together for a protest in Baltimore, then as a country we can come together to end this.
It won’t be an easy road. I fear there will be more blood..on the leaves of poplar trees.
