Our Death Is All They Seek!

Our Death Is All They Seek!

 

To finally get some peace, he had to die out on the street,
killed by hate and racism from every white man we still meet.
For over four hundred years, we have been screaming out our pain,
and little did we know that our screams were all in vain.

The world is finally listening, but what good will that do us?
We marched to sit up front, but now we’re underneath the bus.
The ‘leader’ of this country stood and told us we are “THUGS!”
And then he told his gangsters to stomp us like we’re bugs.

We own no tanks or missiles, nor drones to take a stand.
We’re tired and poor and cursed in this white man’s stolen land.
Our death is all they seek and so we’re off to bury the dead.
Because to them we lack humanity, though our blood is also red.

Why must we bear the blame for a crime we didn’t commit?
To this day, it seems we’re slaves and to their will, we must submit.
We are a people without a country; we are clouds in a savage storm.
blown away by white supremacy, a system they can’t reform.
One day, there’ll be a reckoning that we won’t live to see
for those of us alive today, are still yearning to be free.

 

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2020 Shelby I. Courtland

It is a sad ass shame that the only way those of us who are descendants of slaves who were dragged over here to ‘serve’ the white man AND white woman’s every whim, can expect to get any peace from them is by being murdered at their hands. There are too many times that we have trudged through a cemetery to bury our dead and some racist kop was never indicted or even fired from his duties of murdering us.

Poor Black people, who mostly cannot even afford life insurance, have to make use of crowd funding or either some ‘celebrity’ will come forward to pay for the funeral expenses. From cradle to grave, we are to forever hand the white man some money while he is busy killing us since many Black women’s babies die in childbirth in this supposedly, First World Nation. What sense does that make? And even if we make it to our teenage years, we are still murdered for merely coming home from a store, carrying iced tea and skittles. Our children cannot even play in a park without getting shot dead. We cannot drive down the street without getting pulled over and shot for complying with the orders to produce our identification. We cannot sleep in our beds without kops beating down the door and shooting us as we lay deep in slumber and yet, none are held accountable for what they do to us.

And now, another Black family, the family of George Floyd, is about set to bury him because he went into a store and was accused of trying to purchase items with a counterfeit bill, and I have heard that even that was a lie. But even so, was that any reason for a racist kop to murder him, casually as though he was merely a bug to be squashed on the sidewalk? As if that is not bad enough, a stomp down, flaming racist, draft dodging bigot has the nerve to order the U.S. military to ‘put us down’ when he was scared too shitless to even join the very military he has called out on us. What sense does that make?

But you whites want to write blog after blog about how ‘woke’ your ass is now! You ain’t woke. Your funky, filthy ass racist petticoat is showing and the world is now denouncing the shit that you’ve been subjecting us to for hundreds of years in this shithole. You haven’t been struck by a ray of conscientiousness. You don’t even have a conscience to berate you, for if you did, would our situation now be making headline news all across this godforsaken planet that you have managed to fuck up? Hell no, it wouldn’t.

You whites think that you’re doing something by showing up at a protest with a sign stating, “Black Lives Matter!” Our lives have never mattered to you and don’t you think for one damn second that I am buying your flaming lies now! So save it! I’m not buying your sudden displays of solidarity when you are why GENTRIFICATION has driven us into homelessness. You are why we are incarcerated by the millions. You are why we are dumb as shit because while you are funding private schools with our money, public schools don’t even have computers or enough books in them and this you know. We are the faces of the jobless, the hungry and the homeless and the disparities in healthcare is obscene and dangerous and is causing our demise at a faster rate than yours. We don’t have any hopes of longevity and most don’t even want to live long, hopeless, racism filled lives of despair!

You whites have shitted on us from the time our ancestors were dragged ashore and you are still shitting on us and telling us that we are to blame for crime in the inner cities; that we are to blame for not having land and wealth to hand down to our sons and daughters. How the hell can we hand a damn thing down to anyone when you made damn sure that you owned it ALL because you damn well owned our ancestors that you claimed were only three fifths of a human? How the hell did you expect us to overcome that shit? YOU DIDN’T. So don’t now turn around and act like you are just getting hit with an epiphany. You know what the fuck you’ve been doing to us and you’re not about to stop that shit now. Shove that fake ass solidarity shit up your pale asses because I am having none of it!

 

How the hell did that man, George Floyd, deserve that? But that is ALL too familiar to us! And you dirty, filthy, racist whites know that this has been going down for centuries. You know this because racists like that piece of shit are YOUR family members and you know your own damn family because you’re one of them. So don’t now claim that you had no idea about ANY of this shit because you’re a goddamn liar! Fucking flaming, racist hypocrites! I despise you ALL!

Time To Celebrate Black History Month AGAIN! Yeah, We Got It Going On!

Black History Holds NO Fame!

Dragged from your native land,
on a floating barge of death.
You built paradise for a thief
who then plundered all the wealth.

Your name was not your own.
You would never again be free.
To know such hate from them,
as they hung you from a tree.

They say that slavery’s over.
Go forth and earn your keep.
And though you labor long,
you’re valued much too cheap.

You were denied so many rights.
And the vote was not for you.
Though many marched and died,
the court bid that adieu.*

Some think you’ve made great strides
in the face of all that’s wrong.
Yet they herd you into prison,
because they hate that you are strong.

Be wary of their smiles,
for they mean you so much harm.
If you’ve a talent, they’ll exploit it.
All over you, they’ll swarm.

They’ll use you and they’ll kill you.
You’re nothing but a thing,
and when your candle’s burned
you’ll feel ole Massa’s sting.

Don’t ever let your guard down,
and it doesn’t pay to trust.
Shield from them your weakness.
Always show them your disgust.

Black history holds no fame.
And it certainly gets no cheer.
Times have never changed.
They still look at you and sneer.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

*June 25th 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, removing a critical tool to combat racial discrimination in voting.

Where shall we begin? Let us celebrate the 11% unemployment rate for Black men even though the national unemployment aka jobless rate stands at 3.7% and if your head’s not stuck up your ass, then you know that even that is a damn lie! Break out the champagne Black folks for those of you who can afford a bottle of say, Andre Cold Duck! Clink those plastic cups together and then piss in the wind because it’s all blowing back your way anyway; the shit that keeps hitting the fan, that is.

Next on our celebration list is the shit that is going down in our public education system better known as the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ if you’re a student of color in these here United States of America where we celebrate Black History Month each and every February. This month is dedicated to showcasing the achievements of Black people in America. We are celebrating each and every single achievement that has not yet occurred but will eventually occur and we are real sure of this happening any day now.

To continue the celebrations, let us look at the child poverty statistics that are sure to impress us during these celebrations of future achievements that we are hell bent on celebrating this month. We are celebrating the fact that ‘child poverty in America is at its highest point in 20 years, putting millions of children at increased risk of injuries, infant mortality, and premature death’. And if that isn’t bad enough, ‘7 million kids still don’t have health insurance’. This is just so worth celebrating, what an achievement! What a dream as opposed to a nightmare. I wonder what that famous man who had a dream, would think of this. I seriously wonder.

But wait! There is more to celebrate this Black History Month! The good news just keeps on coming. ‘Incarceration rate for African-Americans now six times the national average’ is still making headlines among Black prisoners and their mostly white guards and the white slave patrol that arrested them for say, selling loose, un-taxed cigarettes, selling marijuana or crack while completely ignoring the white man that was buying said crack and marijuana from the guilty by birth African-American other wise known as Colored otherwise known as Black otherwise known as felon or prisoner no.1,000,034. White folks, why don’t you just lock up every single Black person at birth? It’ll save you the trouble of doing so later on since many of us will know what it feels like to be shackled just as those we are descended from knew what it felt like. And the beat goes on and we celebrate it.

And ‘here’s the Data That Shows Cops Kill Black People at a Higher Rate Than White People’, now ain’t that a bitch?! Unfortunately, Michael Brown is not here to celebrate this Black History Month with us because he was shot and killed by a cop. Twelve year old Tamir Rice is also not here this year to help us celebrate because he was shot and killed by a cop while playing with a toy gun in a park. John Crawford, likewise, is not here to celebrate because he was shot and killed by a cop in Wal-Mart while holding a toy gun.  Eric Garner, unfortunately, for him, was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes and that cost him his life and so he will not be joining in the celebrations. Terrance Franklin was shot and killed by cops following a traffic stop and he will not be celebrating ether. Seven year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot  and killed by a cop while she slept and the charge of manslaughter against the cop that shot and killed her was dropped and so, she is not just ‘under-the-weather’, she is underground and therefore, is not able to celebrate this historic month. Let us celebrate on her behalf. Sandra Bland is not here to celebrate with us because she was hanged in a Texas jail cell. So many are not here to witness all of the achievements that we celebrate today that have not as yet occurred. But we are sure that any minute now, we shall achieve….something. Yeah! Wait on it.

Fortunately, I have found yet another statistic that gives us even more of a reason to celebrate Black history month. Black families are seven times more likely to be homeless. We have come so far this February in the year of our Lord 2020, have we not? Blacks make up half of the U.S. homeless population. Doesn’t that just give you a warm and comfortable, cozy feeling that those homeless people lack? These are achievements that we have here folks! Time to celebrate and to keep the momentum going. Our ancestors would be so proud of where we are today. Don’t you think? Does this not make you aware that BLACK LIVES DO NOT MATTER?!

Now, on the other hand, Tyler Perry will dress up in drag and put some Black folks to work on another Madea movie and Beyoncé will croon about a Halo for Jay-Z and Jay-Z will rap about niggas while DMX will head back to prison for drug possession, get out on probation again and then go right back in for drug possession. Viola Davis will have no problem getting cast as yet another maid after her role in ‘The Help’ and Forest Whitaker is probably all set to play yet another version of someone’s Butler since every one is well aware that us Black folks are so good at bowing and scraping and being subservient to our ‘betters’.

Finally, I’ve given you many reasons to celebrate this month. The reasons are endless and our achievements that we will watch for some time in the future are making life much better for so many of us and that is why we must enjoy this Black History Month. We have no need to march and protest like those Black people in the 1960s did. We are so past that in this here post-racial America. I mean, what we have here is a post-racial America, is it not? But nevertheless, Dr. King would be so proud as would his stalwart, fellow marchers-in-arms at the progress that we have made since his infamous, I Have A Dream speech. We shall overcome! Uh…what I meant to say is that, “We did overcome!” Now like the good little sheep you are, start celebrating all of this shit!! And look ahead to when the REAL achievements will come because surely they must come!

 

“Welcome To OUR World!”

 

I cannot wait to see how this is going to play out and so far, hardly a word from the police. But of course, they are wondering just how they are going to play out the usual, “I feared for my life!” scenario. I mean, the latest ‘victim’ of an unlawful police killing of an unarmed citizen just happens to be ‘white’ and even though she was from the ‘land-down-under’, she don’t look at all Aborigine to me.

Australians, bride-to-be’s dad rocked by Minneapolis police shooting

Australians expressed dismay and a father pleaded for “the light of justice” Tuesday as investigators in Minneapolis tried to determine why a city police officer fatally shot an Australian woman who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault.

Justine Damond, 40, was a meditation instructor who moved to the U.S. in 2015 to be with fiance Don Damond. She was shot just before midnight Saturday in an alley outside her home, unarmed and in her pajamas.

“We thought yesterday was our worst nightmare, but we awoke to the ugly truth and it hurt even more,” her father, John Ruszczyk said Tuesday local time in Sydney.

And add insult to injury and it looks like the ‘victim’ is the one who called the police in the first place and was actually speaking with them when she was shot dead and of course, there is no body cam footage, nor is there dash cam footage even though citizens fought hard for body cams and have been and are paying for them to be used, but for some strange reason, many are found to be turned off at the most inauspicious of times.

But wait! The plot thickens!

Minneapolis cop who shot Australian woman during call was named in recent lawsuit, faced two open complaints

The Minneapolis cop who fatally shot an Australian woman during a police call was celebrated as one of the department’s few Somali-American officers, but had two open complaints and named in a recent lawsuit.

Mohamed Noor fired at Justine Damond on Saturday night while she was speaking to the officer’s partner.

Say it ain’t so! ‘Miss Pure White As Snow Australia’ was gunned down in ‘cold’ blood by a refugee from Somalia; a decorated Somali-American police officer, who has by the way, been praised most enthusiastically by Minneapolis Mayor, Betsy Hodges.

“I want to take a moment to recognize Officer Mohamed Noor, the newest Somali officer in the Minneapolis Police Department,” Mayor Betsy Hodges wrote in a Facebook post last year. “Officer Noor has been assigned to the 5th Precinct, where his arrival has been highly celebrated, particularly by the Somali community in and around Karmel Mall.”

And the article goes on to state that Noor’s partner in the patrol car was absolutely STUNNED when Noor opened fire on ‘Miss Pure White As Snow Australia’; just completely, devastatingly STUNNED, he was, to be sure!

What police officer was stunned when Eric Garner was choked to death by another officer on video on a New York Street for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes? What police officer was stunned by his partner shooting and killing twelve-year old Tamir Rice only seconds after pulling up on that child while he was playing with a toy gun in a park? What officer was stunned when a fellow police officer shot and killed John Crawford in a Wal-Mart store for holding a toy gun? What police officer was reportedly stunned when witnessing the murder of 23-year old unarmed Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from New Guinea who was shot 41 times by four New York cops? But now, it is time for a fellow officer to be absolutely, appallingly STUNNED over the shooting and killing of an unarmed ‘white’ woman from Australia by his partner, a fellow cop. Cops are shooting citizens every single day and are killing them for no good reason and not one time have I heard that even one cop was STUNNED by the actions of another. All we hear is how the cops are always in the right because they “FEARED FOR THEIR LIVES!” To hell with our lives, they fear for theirs. So why the fuck did they sign up to be police officers in the first damn place if they were just going to be namby-pamby piss their pants mommas boys and girls every single damn time they shot somebody to death who happened either to be unarmed or to be legally armed as was the case with Philando Castile? If you lousy ass shit your pants wimps are so goddamn fearful for your lives, then don’t sign the fuck up to be cops! That’ll stop that shit right there! You can’t have it both ways; grab a gun, shoot some unarmed or lawfully armed, law abiding citizen and then claim “you feared for your life” to get yourself off the hook every single time you kill someone who is unarmed and who posed no goddamn threat to you whatsoever! Thus far, you have gotten clean away with this scenario because it’s been mostly Black people that you’ve dished this shit out to, but let’s see you slither your way out of this one. The ‘whites’ ain’t gonna take kindly to you filling their asses with lead. They don’t give a damn about what you do to Black folks, but goddamn it, enough is enough when you start that shit up with ‘Miss Goldilocks’ and her ilk! Let’s see how far that “I feared for my life!” bullshit gets you THIS time! I can’t wait for it!

But the fat is in the fire now because it ain’t some no-account Black thug with a criminal record that’s got himself shot dead by cops. The shit is going to hit the fan now because it ain’t just some no-account twelve-year old Black boy that’s got himself murdered by wimp-assed cops. The world has got to stop turning because now, ‘Miss Pure White As Snow Australia’, who was soon to be married and who had only three years ago arrived on these shores and who was just a saint and all that comes with it, has been shot dead by those murderers in blue and brown. What’s the story gonna be, eh? What lies will come out? And how much will the other loathsome cops stick up for this Somali-born cop that shot ‘Miss Goldilocks’? We’ll soon see how thick that ‘blue wall’ is, won’t we? We’ll soon see at what lengths the Minneapolis police department will go to protect ‘one of their own’. I can’t wait for the unfolding of this event.

Hey! White folks! You taking note of this? How do you feel now? She looks like you! And they shot her in stone ‘cold blood’. Are you going to wait to see if she had a ‘rap sheet’? Are you going to say, “Oh well, another thug shot dead,” if it turns out that she was ticketed for jay-walking and/or littering continuously? This shit is just too horrific for words, now ain’t it? What the hell? They can’t shoot you, now can they? Uh, yes, cop  Mohamed Noor did! So, all I can say to that is “WELCOME TO OUR WORLD!” Ain’t it great to be in America where we are protected from the common criminals by those great folks in blue and brown uniforms? Salute our heroes in blue and brown today, why doncha! Thank them for filling your ass with lead! Thank them for getting out of any wrong doing on their part by simply saying, “I feared for MY life!” Never mind Tamir Rice’s life! Never mind Eric Garner’s life! Never mind Freddie Gray’s life! Never mind Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones ‘ life! Never mind John Crawford’s life! What are you going to do now that it’s YOUR life they’re snuffing out?

Yessiree! “WELCOME TO OUR WORLD!”

Shots Ring Out Every Single Night!

Shots ring out every single night.
People stand on the corner and scream and shout.
Torn protest signs litter the streets.
And no one seems to know what it’s all about.

A young man in Baton Rouge was shot and killed.
Another young man in St. Anthony, the same.
In Ferguson, MO, blood flows down the street.
And at the heart of it all is a KKKop’s killing game.

In a Wal-Mart store, a man held a toy gun,
he is dead too and the killing didn’t stop.
A young boy played in a Cleveland park
and the next sound he heard was a gun going, “POP!”

A young woman went to Texas to start a new job,
she made a wrong turn with her signal light.
And now she is dead, found hanged in a cell
all because her color was Black and not white.

I tell myself that any killing is wrong,
but when I heard about the shooting in a Texas town,
I never even flinched nor did I say one word.
I simply poured a flute of champagne and I chugged it down!

Call me insensitive or call me what you want,
but I will not lend myself to hypocrisy
because in my heart of hearts, I don’t care for KKKops,
when those they kill by the thousands, look like me!

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2016 Shelby I. Courtland

The Dallas gunman claimed white police officers were conducting “genocide” against black people before he launched his attack, a friend told the Telegraph.

A week before Micah Johnson, 25, targeted police in Dallas the normally “chill” military veteran became upset, the friend said.

Israel Cooper, 19, said: “He was upset. He said white cops are just slaying black people, basically genocide. He said, “this is getting out of hand’.”

“Getting out of hand,” is right! And for people who say that this is the beginning of  a race war, tell me when have white people not been at war against America’s most unwilling ‘citizens’; descendants of slaves? You forget yourself and since you do, might I remind you why Black people are here? You mean, you don’t know? We are here thanks to your ancestors and here you are, taking up where your ancestors left off and you expect us to love you? Get real!

You can call this a ‘race war’ if you like and you can denounce us from here to hell, but the reality is, you put this shit in motion and now you want us to wring our hands and gnash our teeth because some racist KKKops got wacked by a man who was sick and tired of reading endless reports of racists gunning down innocent Black people? You can wag your finger over this until it falls off, I don’t give a good goddamn because tonight, I am celebrating AGAIN! That’s right! The only “POPPING” I am going to hear is the popping of another champagne cork!

“Cheers!”

And in the words of Tupac, “I was given this world, I didn’t make it.” And we ALL know who made this world the way it is now. So, you own up to what you set in motion. You goddamn right, I’m gonna celebrate! Eight 0 clock sharp and that’s central daylight savings time, “POP” goes the goddamn cork, motherfuckers!

And as for the KKKops out there! You sons-of-bitches ain’t even good enough to suck on the cork AFTER I trash it, you worthless racist bastards! Grieve with you? Nothing fucking doing!

Black History

Dragged from your native land,
on a floating barge of death;
you built paradise for a thief
who then plundered all the wealth.

Your name was not your own.
You would never again be free.
To know such hate from them,
as they hang you from a tree.

They say that slavery’s over.
Go forth and earn your keep.
And though you labor long,
you’re valued much too cheap.

You were denied so many rights.
And the vote was not for you.
Though many marched and died,
the court bid that adieu.

Some think you’ve made great strides
in the face of all that’s wrong.
Yet they herd you into prison,
because they hate that you are strong.

Be wary of their smiles,
for they mean you so much harm.
If you’ve a talent, they’ll exploit it.
All over you, they’ll swarm.

They’ll use you and then kill you.
You’re nothing but a thing,
and when your candle’s burned
you’ll feel ole Massa’s sting.

Don’t ever let your guard down,
and it doesn’t pay to trust.
Shield from them any weakness.
Always show them your disgust.

Black history holds no fame.
And it certainly gets no cheer.
Times have never changed.
They still look at you and jeer!

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

Although this one is pretty much self-explanatory, I will just add that though there are a few, and I do mean few stories about progress that some Negroes have made, the fact remains that this is no time to be celebrating because the majority of us are fucked up and just a glance around will make that fact, quite obvious.

I was pretty much torn over what to post about this month and I see no reason to attempt to put together some feel good shit because nothing ‘feels’ good to me, not at all. Too much nasty shit has gone down and the murder of Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Renisha McBride, Aiyana Jones, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and there are so many others are still too raw for me, emotionally speaking, to post any uplifting stories about Negro history during what the ‘whites’ have designated, “Black History Month.”

I will leave it up to others to showcase the ‘feel good’ shit of Negro history and if any inspiration should strike me, you’ll be the second to know.

Black Lives Matter!

Black lives matter!
Keep telling yourself that lie
and that it’s just a matter of time
 before you get your piece of the pie.

Black lives matter!
 Blacks are why the morgues are full.
 and why the jails are overcrowded.
That Black lives matter shit is bull!

Black lives matter!
It’s why you’re holding up a sign
because Freddie Gray is dead.
They broke that Black man’s spine.

Black lives matter!
This is what you must make known.
You want them to understand
that you can’t help your Black skin tone.

Black lives matter!
But how can you be so sure?
 It would seem that Black must be a disease.
And that death is the only cure.

 

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2015 Shelby I. Courtland

 

Yes indeed, Black lives matter!

Over 2.3 million men in America are in prison — about half for drug crimes. Seventy percent of all men imprisoned are black or Hispanic. Thirty years ago, before the “War on Drugs” was implemented, there were only 300,000 people in the American prison system.

Yes indeed, Black lives matter!

Homelessness has become an especially serious problem in the African-American community, with Blacks making up half of the nation’s homeless community, according to a report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, African-Americans disproportionately represent 47 percent of homeless people, although they make up only 12 percent of the general population.

Yes indeed, Black lives matter!

You really can get pulled over for driving while black, federal statistics show

A black driver is about 31 percent more likely to be pulled over than a white driver, or about 23 percent more likely than a Hispanic driver. “Driving while black” is, indeed, a measurable phenomenon.

Yes indeed, Black lives matter!

The ACLU is committed to challenging the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished, and pushed out.

“Zero-tolerance” policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while cops in schools lead to students being criminalized for behavior that should be handled inside the school. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends and the discriminatory application of discipline.

So, as you can clearly see, Black lives matter! BLACK LIVES MATTER! Keep up the good work, #Blacklivesmatter! Because whatever you’re doing, it is crystal clear that it IS working! Hell! Where do I sign up????!!!!!

Freddie Gray, We Failed You!

Freddie Gray, we failed you.
It would seem, we always will.
We failed Amadou Diallo,
and all the rest on their list to kill.

Poor Michael Brown lay in the sun,
but his body cooled so fast.
And Trayvon still roams the night,
for being Black, he was harassed.

Eric, we failed you too.
What is there left to say?
They choked the life right out of you.
And no one was made to pay.

Oh we get upset and burn some things,
and then we quickly get over the pain.
They call us all bad thugs
but why you are dead, they can’t explain.

A mother slapped her child,
for throwing rocks and glass and such,
and the media played that up.
At that shit, they always clutch.

They always blame the victim,
for acting out of rage
“Our anger should be doused!”
So says the wise old sage.

Something’s wrong with that old sage,
He does not speak the truth.
A man is dead who did no wrong.
He was buried while in his youth.

Twelve, eighteen and twenty-two,
and on and on it goes.
These are the average ages
of Black bodies laid out in rows.

The funerals never stop.
And the buckets of tears are shed.
The lines are out the door,
but no one says what needs to be said.

Peace will never be ours to know
in this shithole built by slaves.
When have they ever cared for us,
these primates out of caves?

Never think the day will come
when they’ll stop the killing spree.
The time is now for you to act!
You’re a slave, you are not free!

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2015 Shelby I. Courtland

If anyone thinks that the racist cops will be held accountable for Freddie Gray’s death, are you serious? With video proof that Eric Garner was murdered in cold blood, where is the indictment? With video proof of the murder of Tamir Rice, where is the indictment? With video proof of the murder of John Crawford, where is the indictment? And certainly what happened to Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina deserves a mention. What slap on the wrist will that cop get even with being charged with murder? And poor Freddie Gray was just minding his business in what the whites labeled a ‘high crime area’ so he must have been committing a crime, but so far, we’ve yet to know what crime he committed. Oh, that’s right! He fled! Even if I was in a wheelchair, I would have fled as fast as my battery powered seat could get me the hell out of there especially seeing as how Black men don’t seem to fare well when coming into contact with AmeriKKKa’s storm troopers.

And we want to think that the deceased are resting in peace? Get real!

Oh and for the woman that slapped her child, he should have hauled off and slapped some sense into your ass!

“I Am Weighed Down By Anguish…”

I weighed myself today,
and I’ve gained so many pounds.
The weight is not from calories.
It’s not from Almond Joys or Mounds.

I am weighed down by anguish,
at the loss of so many men,
And Black though they were,
I had no idea that was a sin.

My doctor chastised me,
over all the weight I’ve gained.
He doesn’t know of all the ghosts,
and that to them, yes I am chained.

Trayvon, you’re not forgotten,
and Skittles I won’t touch.
I still put my hoodie on
but I don’t go out much.

When I see a giant of a man,
standing on a New York Street,
I see Eric Garner,
he’s breathing and on his feet.

In another corner of my mind,
Michael Brown will never leave.
I can’t forget him lying there,
and for his senseless death, I grieve.

John Crawford, you are here,
You stand in the light to show,
the gun was just a toy,
but into a casket, there you go.

Oh Tamir, Tamir, little child,
you played in Autumn’s park.
And when play time was over,
another gun had found its mark.

You’re on the scale with me now,
you cute, little twelve year old.
Come take a walk with me.
Your hand in mine, I hold.

I don’t know if there’s an afterlife.
But I do know that you’re here,
adding weight upon my scale,
and of this weight, I have no fear!

Written by
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

For so many days, I have shed so many tears and still they come. This one is not about rhyming or about ‘getting it right’ because this is all so very wrong. This one is about how I feel when I think of the senselessness of these murders and of the fact that there was no punishment nor will there be any punishment for those who murdered them. I can’t even wrap my head around that.

And I’ve just read that MSNBC’s lackey, Al Sharpton, is organizing yet another ‘march on Washington’. How many will this one make? Anybody bothering to count anymore? What’s the point? We’ve been marching for how long now and what’s changed? Oh, right! The names, that’s all! Shall we build a ‘wall’ and put on it the names of all the dead Black men and dead Black children and dead Black women that have been murdered by cops that kill with impunity and shall we also just cut out that grand jury nonsense? For what else is it? Another ‘dog and pony’ show while the body count continues to pile up? Let us pray and let us march. It has worked SO well thus far. Shall we give it yet another go? Onward ‘christian’ soldiers!

So Many Tears!

So many tears I’ve shed,
and each one had a name.
So many bodies buried,
where do I lay the blame?

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

I am also going to mention John Crawford, the 22 year old man that was killed by police in a Wal-Mart in Beaver Creek, OH on August 5th and was killed just four days before 18 year old Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO. Neither Tamir, John or Michael lived to a mature, ripe old age. And Trayvon, we will never forget you.