I Can’t Breathe

I can’t breathe.

Even a calm and stable mind cannot omit 

brutal force, of the entitled kind.

I can’t breathe.

When you strangle me with your white lies

and whataboutery to excuse your despise.

I can’t breathe.

In my own home eclipsed by racial afflictions 

that I am forced to carry like a slave on my shoulders.

I can’t breathe.

You have made up your mind not to listen,

even when I am screaming at your face –  

I Can’t Breathe!
 

You have me in a chokehold, for my crime is

that I am not born in a white household.