I CAN’T BREATHE

Niyi Osundare

I

I can’t breathe

I can’t breathe

I can’t bre

I can’t

I can’t

1. . . . .

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2020: Black Lives Matter

1965: I AM A MAN

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There are countless ways

Of lynching without a rope

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The casualties were fewer than expected:

10 Persons

&

1,000 Negroes

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For every Black in college

There are a hundred more in prison

*

So many centuries on

America still has a “Negro Problem”

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Muses the Media Sage:

Racism is America’s Original Sin

Violence, its inalienable companion

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Mr. George Floyd committed two cardinal crimes:

He was Black

He was big

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Black Lives Matter

Black Life Martyrs

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Asked Louis Armstrong, the Smiling Trumpetman:

What did I do to be so black and blue?