I Dream of Dr. King II: National Nightmare

If the world ended, today

All we’re told, be humble and pray

Youth is expiring, in unrest they lay

Injustice wins, no penalties to pay

Racism still alive, but we shall overcome

From outcries of murder, do we run

Dr. King, how long does one remain silent

when your approach to this was nonviolent

Spyware on devices, Sprint, T-Mobile, Motorola

New technology, gone from Cancer, AIDS to Ebola

We search for fallen foreign planes of the sky

Same ones we teach terrorists how to fly

Give funds and rescue an overseas country

In mine, I’m treated and hunted as a bounty

Dr. King, if only you saw how they did Trayvon Martin

Left the Black community’s hearts hardened

The same happened in a Missouri town

Gunned down was teenager, Michael Brown

It’s called Ferguson of looting and purging

Many businesses to homes were burning

You said, riots are language of the unspoken

against a system not meant to protect us, broken

Can’t forget about Oscar Grant

Fruitvale Station, a New Year’s rant

When we think the madness can’t go no farther

‘I CAN’T BREATHE’, last words of Eric Garner

As a kid, I played with toy guns

but not for Tamir Rice to be shot in fun

Lord, what have we done

Keep being taken away, until we’re none

Invitation by members to join KKK

They must feel Blacks are stupid, no fucking way

Arson crosses as their grills

A barbecue, picnic (pick a nigger) for our kills

Before my time, but I won’t forget

Years, they hid behind sheets and pillow case sets

Think they did something, attending a NAACP meeting

while my skin color is dying with bleeding

Choked to death, put on gurney, like we’re breathing

Shoot us dead, cuff us, as if we’re leaving

The only power we have is vote and protests

When can we strap up in bullet proof vests

Bring crooked law makers and enforcers to test

Without a judge, grand jury, or an arrest

Be their equalizer, Black lives matter

even on camera…

The dream will not shatter

Uplift this stigma

Minorities are the latter

Solve the enigma

Racist chit-chatter

Black men used as target practice for the scare

Waking up to step out my door is a nightmare

To each other, we’re punk ass, bitch niggas

until one of us pull a trigger

If we come forward as witnesses

We disrespected the streets and are snitches

Not supposed to say Black on Black crime

in police brutality time

If so hard, draw your weapons at them

or suit up for war in Afghanistan

Some other nationalities recognize us

Our own women despise us

We’re thugs and abusers in prisons across nation

Harassing, drugging, and charged with rape allegations

Gay, unemployed, no nice guys

Bad partners to fathers without child support to buy

New bitches, broke, weak…we still get The Apology

It’s always said, look at history

Jim Crow, Willie Lynch, and Slavery

Then, maybe we’ll have unity

As people, we’ll never be equal

So much evil to be peaceful

A cruel society, I see

God Almighty, I am NOT free

© 2015, Alphonso Taylor. All rights reserved. No republication of this material in any form or medium is permitted without expressed permission of the author. 

Aunt Ree

I didn’t know where I was going

If it’s a state or residence

When I began to remember

All I wanted to do was go to Virginia

Dad, are we going to Virginia

My favorite family and so much fun

We do everything under the sun

It’ll start at Aunt Ree’s house

Celebrations, reunions, and cookouts

To this day, your home is always my hotel

As a child, I’ll run the little steps to a bowl of cereal

or to your good breakfast cooking smell

The Christmases I brought down my toys

to share with my first, favorite woman cousin, Joye

Yes, I was bad and bit her on the butt

You wanted to tear my hind pots up

Just leave it to my mother

because I was becoming a brother

Aunt Ree, you named my only sibling, Shante Marie

Trips we took to Florida’s Disney World

It was you, me, Meme, and Aunt Jerl

I have a bond with Robbin, you see

He taught me how to play Super Mario Bros. 3

Good ole days of entertainment and Nintendo in the den

I’m excited from different company walking in

It could be Aunt Frances, Skookie, Ivan, Fee, Kita, and Gwen

Aunt Margie, MC, Derrick, Boo-Boo, Sylvia, T, Jevon, Keke

Uncle Bob, Raynor, or of the family, a friend

I’m older and I can talk to you about life

How I wanted to settle down, have children… wife

Backfired, you said, I just wanna be treated right

Let me learn from mistakes, it’s my plight

These times has come to past

January 4, 2015, is when I saw you, last

We were happy to see each other for the New Year

Few days later, I break down and shed tears

Received call from cousin David, you passed away

I was like, look man, don’t play

He wasn’t, I packed a bag and came right away

I’m gonna miss your great warm spirit, jokes, and smile

Wash your hands, have you eaten anything, where’s little Al

Now, I’m saying what happened, where’s my favorite aunt

I know, as I haven’t seen him in a while

  Say hello for me to Uncle Hunt

© 2015, Alphonso Taylor. All rights reserved. No republication of this material in any form or medium is permitted without expressed permission of the author.