Why I wrote the poetry collection of I Can’t Breathe...?
I wrote I Can’t Breathe... because I was browsing on social media, I came across a post that stated that “I Can’t Breathe...”. It triggered in my mind, that these are the words that George Floyd expressed to the officer before he was murdered. I too struggled with being out of breath, as an adult, so I clearly understood what George Floyd felt. This brought to me, the thought on how police brutality is expressed through excessive violence. The excessive violence can come across, as being choked, clubbed, kicked, punched, pushed, slammed, smashed and stomped. I used the term hanged also, in a poem, as this violent and inhuman act was perpetrated on African Americans in the South, by organized racists groups. So, I wrote 10 repetitions poems, using the racial color of black, brown, red, yellow and white; representing the various skin tones in the world today. I selected the cemetery photo to give a visual representation that excessive violence can lead to death for any racial group. If excessive violence impacts one racial group, it impacts all racial groups.
1st they came
1st they came 4 black folks
-n-
i didn’t speak out
be-cauze i wasn’t black
then they came 4 brown folks
-n-
i didn’t speak out
be-cauze i wasn’t brown
then they came 4 red folks
-n-
i didn’t speak out
be-cauze i wasn’t red
then they came 4 yellow folks
-n-
i didn’t speak out
be-cauze i wasn’t yellow
then they came 4 me
-n-
there was no 1 left
2 speak out 4 me.
fv bland
(inspired by the poem, First They Came
by Martin Niemöller)