Civil Disobedience

June 28, 2016 | Sheldon Johnson

This piece, by Sheldon (aka “Superb”) is his response to the police and cultural violence toward black men.  He was assisted in performance by Leroy, Demetrius, Jayare, and Ray.

Hands up, don’t shoot!

Hands up, don’t shoot!

I shouted at the approaching

Rookie recruit

In his pressed blue suit

In obvious pursuit

Of fame and infamy!

“Hello, 911?”

“Yeah, I’d like to report a crime.”

This savage just utilized his glock

A military grade plastic stock

In murderous symphony

An unholy matrimony

Ended absent alimony.

Hands up, don’t shoot! Hands up . . .

Don’t HATE the beauty of my SKIN. Although you may believe

HAM was cursed through

The magnificence of my SKIN.

A hereditary dossier of rebellion

Passed via the DNA of my KIN.

Hung and enslaved

By the blood of your KIN.

Was not 1964 supposed to be

The linchpin

To your lynchin’?

Mason Dixon line pimpin’?

I guess it’s Black Friday

In Ferguson.

Hands up, don’t shoot!

Hands up, don’t . .

Infest my community with CRACK!

Nor dispatch your maniac

White coat quack

With project Tuskegee syphilis

Masqueraded as an aphrodisiac . . .

Placebos and cardiac arrests.

Then get upset when I attest

Annihilation:

At the end of your gavel!

Black robes, black scams,

Black books that bind

The black mind:

In rusty fecal chains!

All in the name of:

Capital rich cotton pickin’ gains!

Yet, the only truth that remains

Are the ashen broken bones of

Antiquated remains.

Hey y’all . . .

It’s Black Friday in Ferguson

Civil unrest is the reason

To murder in the face of INNOCENCE

Is statutory TREASON!

A conclusion not an illusion

That it’s open season.

Hands up, don’t shoot!

My hands were up, Superb Falls

Why’d you shoot?