I walked upon the streets and suddenly I couldn’t breathe
I walked upon the streets and suddenly I couldn’t breathe
The colour of my skin was suffocating me,
The lineage of my kin was suffocating me.
I walked upon the streets and all they could see,
Was a black man, the remnants of slavery.
Not a black man, the builders of their land,
Not the black man who toiled with no thanks.
No, all they could see was the remnants of slavery.
I walked upon the streets and my heart seemed to fail me,
He said stop, I did.
He said come, I came.
But just like those three hundred years ago, I was but still a slave,
My shackle was that gun, my identity was but none.
And with one word, I became a noun.
A George Floyd, An Emmett Till,
I became a memory in my mother’s ear.
I walked upon the streets with fear in mind,
I walked upon the streets and walking became a crime.
I took a jog, they said I robbed,
I asked where the evidence was and all they did was look at me
And it dawned on me,
The evidence was embedded in my skin,
The evidence was the blessing I was born with.
I walked upon the streets and suddenly I couldn’t breathe
And when my son walks upon the streets I say to him remember,
“Hands on the dash”
“Eyes on the floor”
“Make no sudden movements or you are no more”
“Yes Massa, No Massa” I mean “Yes sir, No Sir”
But above all pray to come home.