Hold Me Mama Me, I Can't Breathe Poem by Omotayo Oloruntoba Oju

I fled not
Looked not them in the eye
Just the way you taught me,
Mama me

I struggled not
Spat not into his vile eyes
Just the way you taught me,
Mama me

Just the way you taught me
Momma, silence sealed my lips
A dreary dread drove me dumb
Four uniformed men left me dead

Listen, Mama
I crossed no line there
Believe me, Mama
I did no wrong here

Down the grocery store I drove
A twenty-dollar-cigarette to-buy
'Fake bill, the twenty dollar! ,
Yelled the pale-skinned cashier

My plea it wasn't fake
Fell flat on jaundiced ears
A call 'cross the counter:
'There's a _black dude_ with a fake bill! '

They came
Four policemen
white
Armed

A shove
A push
Tosses and kicks
I'm felled

Pinned down hard
Hands held back
hand-cuff-ed
Face-down-flat

Three step back in acquiescing stare
One drags knee on your baby's neck.
Digs hard in
Digs in harder

Under the yoke of a deadly kneel
I can't breathe
Under the weight of a crushing hate
I cannot breathe

I pine and pant and choke
They're white, I'm black
They gloat, I groan
Time ticks painfully past

I-can't-breathe-8-plus-minutes
Under the choke of a hate-hold
Death strolls slowly in
I can't breathe

Maaaama....
Mamaaa
Ma-ma
Mama...