A Man Had To Lose His Life — a poem for George Floyd

A man had to lose his life
in order for this country
to wake up to the realities
of anti-Blackness, to police
violence, to police brutality
that has existed in Black
communities for centuries.

A man had to lose his life
for us to get to a point
where white people believe
in greater numbers our necks
have always been under knees.

A man, a father is in his grave
because the United States did
not ask police officers to behave
in our neighborhoods. The law
was getting away with violence
until a Black man named
George Floyd was murdered,
silenced.

A man had to lose his life
in order for police brutality
to finally sit in a court room
and be called out for how
heinous and heartless it
truly is.

A man had to lose his life
in order for us to live to fight back,
to yell, to scream, to march, to chant,
to protest, to burn shit down, to pound
pavement after pavement demanding
justice.

But, isn’t it sad, so sad, that
George Floyd had to lose his life
in order for us to get to this
point?

When will the madness stop?
When will we ever realize
we must hold accountable
all cops? When will Black lives
ever be protected like white
lives?

For this, a man should not
have to ever die.

Copyright Christopher D. Sims
May 25th, 2021
All rights reserved