I walked upon the streets and suddenly I couldn’t breathe

The colour of my skin was suffocating me,

The lineage of my kin was suffocating me.

I walked upon the streets and all they could see,

Was a black man, the remnants of slavery.

Not a black man, the builders of their land,

Not the black man who toiled with no thanks.

No, all they could see was the remnants of slavery.

I walked upon the streets and my heart seemed to fail me,

He said stop, I did.

He said come, I came.

But just like those three hundred years ago, I was but still a slave,

My shackle was that gun, my identity was but none.

And with one word, I became a noun.

A George Floyd, An Emmett Till,

I became a memory in my mother’s ear.

I walked upon the streets with fear in mind,

I walked upon the streets and walking became a crime.

I took a jog, they said I robbed,

I asked where the evidence was and all they did was look at me

And it dawned on me,

The evidence was embedded in my skin,

The evidence was the blessing I was born with.

I walked upon the streets and suddenly I couldn’t breathe

And when my son walks upon the streets I say to him remember,

“Hands on the dash”

“Eyes on the floor”

“Make no sudden movements or you are no more”

“Yes Massa, No Massa” I mean “Yes sir, No Sir”

But above all pray to come home.