Alton Sterling just bit the dust,
down in ole Baton Rouge.
He weren’t looking for no whores
of the like in “Moulin Rouge.”
I hear he was selling CDs,
trying to become a businessman.
But just like Eric Garner,
he needed another plan.
And now, another gentle giant
was felled by the slave patrol.
You have got to understand
that the white man is in control.
So, pick up your protest sign,
and get to marching down the street.
I know your shoes are worn out
as is your tired and aching feet.
But this is how you effect change,
like they did in Dr. King’s day?
Just ask him how that worked.
Damn! He can’t talk no way!
Dr. King was all peaceful like
as he took to the streets of hell.
He said, “I gots me a dream
and they shot him dead as well.
Oh, but things is different now.
They let you riot and go berserk
but then they say, “Alright, you’re done!”
And around your neck, that chain, they jerk!
We’re all Massa’s boys and girls.
We sing and we dance for him.
But if we got no talent at all,
then we is dead meat to them.
Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2016 Shelby I. Courtland
Well, I for one, am not getting out my dusty ass, lame ass protest sign. Sorry Alton Sterling, but since it did not work for Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, John Crawford, Ezell, Ford, Akai Gurley, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Artago Damon Howard, Jeremy Lett, Thomas Allen, Charly Leondeu Keunang, Naeschylus Vinzaint, Tony Robinson, Anthony Hill, Bobby Gross, Frank Shepherd, William Chapman, David Felix, Brendon Glenn, Kris Jackson, Spencer McCain, Albert Joseph Davis, Samuel DuBose, Christian Taylor and on and on it goes, it did not work for you or for those who will be added to this list.
If I tweet about it, that should do the trick. If I post my outrage about what happened on Facebook, that will make a difference. But I chose to only write a poem about what happened to you and so I am just as much to blame for what is going down as the people I call out. I am a ‘do nothing’ hypocrite just like we all are. We sit back and we watch this go down every single day and we do nothing because marching does nothing, lighting up Twitter and Facebook and penning poems, does nothing. I am aiding and abetting in what has been happening to Black people all across this murderous hellhole and so no, I do not sit on my sanctimonious ass and call everyone else out without including my ‘do nothing’ ass in with the lot of you!
And hoping that Alton Sterling rests in peace is like suggesting that Alton Sterling has gone to a ‘better place’ Get real! The man is as dead as a doorknob and he damn sure got no peace here and he is expected to get some restful slumber while awaiting the rapture? AGAIN!!! Get real!!!!
But wait for it! The “GASP!” Justice Department has been called in. Yep! That’s gonna help! I gagged on that lie! Oh yes I did! The ‘officers’ are on ‘paid leave’ pending, once again, not a goddamn thing and so, nothing to see here folks. Move it along! Just ask the KKKops that murdered Freddie Gray and ALL the others!! And as always, this is just another fucking day in paradise!
shelbycourtland 