I Am Here As Witness…
(for Sam McKenzie, Jr. — a hastily written poem for an enlightened soul)

I am here as witness
to generations of bystanders
comfortable in their complacency
who see the truth
who hear the wails
and hide in their homes
allowing the darkness that covers this land.
Who’s ancestors stood on these shores,
unequivocally declaring “Mine!”
Swept their humanity under Plymouth’s Rock
Seized and murdered as Divine Provenance
Slept in jeweled chambers as slaves starved
Terrorized and brutalized to silence them
Turned their murders into picnics
Made postcards celebrating a Day at the Lynching
pics of Men, Women, and Children
swinging from the poplar trees.
These generations
with blood-stained hands
have joisted the sickness through hiding the truth,
with silent smirks from the luxury of privilege
preached from the pulpits of Christianity
strengthening their belief that
Whiteness is God’s Way.
Jesus was a Black Man.
Jesus was a Jew.
In a land where power brutalizes,
uses bullets as genocide
You bring shame and misery to a nation,
because inaction means death
and silence means approval
you know this
You are not powerless
far from it.
