Justice I Want, Justice The World Desires Poem by Chima Ononogbu

They ripple across the plains of the world,
My cries as waves old as four centuries,
For I am held in a chokehold
As I watch my life slip away.

This is my story, my gory tale:
Ever since I can remember
Racism stalks the glance I take, monitors the steps I make,
Hunting me down like a hunter upon a game.

Decades ago, it was the same story for those before me,
Whose backs were lacerated by canines and whips,
Homes and Churches torched by fires of racism
Their blood like a river flew the streets of America.

They had no rest, not even one.
Racists mobs about the streets armed with cudgels and guns,
Searching for them to maim and kill: people of African descent,
Whose only infraction the skin they wore.

But not long ago, they said it was all over,
No more racism, no more hunting me, no more deaths.
Because it is the 21st century.
But it is a blatant irony, a yelping lie,
Seeing those in uniform and badges the same as the mobs
Now empowered to restrain and kill me.

But now, the world hears my cry:
I can't breathe,
Your knee is on my neck,
Don't shoot me, I'm an unarmed black man.
Justice I want, justice the world desires.