When a black man is shot seven times in the back
Is it only good luck for the bigoted ones?
Is collateral benefit granted also
To the yet uninfected who witness a show
Of extreme force unwarranted? Have police guns
Replaced nooses in essence as legal attack?

Bias is a continuum. Slow in its growth
Over decades of nurturing, what is believed
Is what’s impressed upon us from those we’re around.
Folks don’t just up and act out. We tend to expound
On our internal programming. What is perceived
Is too much for the shrunken heart. Hate becomes oath.

How greater is reality over the tales
Interwoven in consciousness carelessly led
Into playing it small in the ultimate game?
Questions to many answers befall us in shame.
Ignorance is pandemic in that it’s widespread.
Is it hard to predict which allegiance prevails?

By which part of the problem do I feel enslaved
As I watch others like me because of my race
Become victims of violence from angry men?
What’s been ripped from my heart, can I have it again?
There are so many questions others will not face
Nor myself anymore lest I’m rendered depraved.