Nikki Giovanni
Protest Poems
911, by Poet Angela Brown

Congress responded;
Undisgraced and confirmed.

The light shines bright,
Quietly flickering.


The Police


Why can't things change?

I am a witness to young kid dying, without a chance
That child is our sons murdered without due cause
Unable to fight back stray bullets aimed killing his heart
To be gunned down marked invalid on dark streets

Is it because our cries are not heard?

I saw the young man dying without resisting arrest
On the streets of disparity where laws are unjust
The young man is one in one community of peers
The harsh reality of blaming politics, hate is killing our kids

Is our community to blame?

A stray bullet piercing at the heart of a brother
A deadly choke hold, a man took his last breath
A sniper took his life with a bullet to his head
A deadly assassin murdered a boy execution style

Am I to blame?
And we all fall down...