We Matter!



Tell me who do you call for protection, when the protectors are holding the guns, and they're pointed at you and there's no where to run?  

What do you say to ears not listening, while standing in a stance of submission, hands up, praying that you don't end up missing?  

The waiting, the ticking, away at your time, and your thinking Dear God don't let this here be my time
, please let someone drive by, speak up, see my eyes, I don't mean you no harm, and I don't want to die.  

Was just minding my own, was just here on the phone, now I'm staring at chrome, surrounded but alone,
not a friend, not a brother, not a son, or a teacher,
but a creature, you see so instead you just reach for your piece, and my peace now ceases to exist, my life flashes before me, I didn't plan it like this,  

You ever count down the seconds until your demise,
it feels like times moving slowly, and you don't think to cry
, and you don't think to scream, you're just thinking of faces,
your mom, your siblings, your children, now you're hatred,
just grows to all those standing before you now faceless
just voices you hear, and they make racist statements,
they dare you to jump, they dare you say shit,
they talk about killing you like it's just everyday basics 

I close my eyes, like God, please don't let him pull it,
I asked for death at old age, not this day from a bullet,
I have lives left to change, I have goals still to reach,
and he spared me, and years later here I still fight to sleep,
flashbacks of that night still replay everyday,
and each new life that's lost, leaves me feeling guilty and afraid,
like I'm on borrowed time, like I'm not meant to be, and each time that I see them, I wonder are they coming for me,  

Fast forward it's 2016, and it's actually worse 

I stood there peacefully as the canisters burst,
and tear gas burns, have I not cried enough,
tried enough,
have you not lied enough,
have we not died enough?
In our quest to exist,
you said let your voices be heard, but our cries you resist,
in our quest to deescalate, you say we resist,
and that gives you right to make me cease to exist, Damn 

I'm just trying to own my own, and make it home, use my art to pick my bone, and ask you, am I not just like you?
Eat food, work hard, breathe just like you, have family and friends that care just like you? See the news and worry for my safety just like you?
I am a man not a cancer,
wanting truth in my justice, and my questions answered.
To not break out in sweats which you think is suspect,
never thinking this is merely cause and effect.
I don't feel safe, and you take that as hate, when in my heart dwells only God and a desire to be great.  

I matter,
because I was chosen I matter, and no matter how much you may refuse to see it I matter.
To my mother, my brother and to others I matter.
I seek change just like you because I matter. 
I'm enraged cause I matter, engaged cause I matter,
can I ask you honestly; are you afraid that I matter? 
Someone prayed that I'd matter, someone stayed cause I matter,
and believe it or not things will change because I matter! 

When I kneel I matter, just look at the news,
same thing in every city, are you seeing the views?
It's not just me out here are you seeing the hues,
light, dark, black, brown, and even whites believe that I matter too.
So why don't I matter to you?
Are we not one in the same?
I seek to make a difference, you know break up some more chains,
when you put on that uniform aren't you thinking the same,
you want to be respected, not feared and deemed strange.
Savage is your way of thinking, not the way we are acting, this is merely a reaction to your action,  

We came here for peace, you come dressed for war, with your shields and your sticks, and tanks and your gas,
and your helicopter spotlights, how long you think that peace will now last?
Cause what started out a memorial, is now a stand off,
therefore we put our hands up, hoping you'll keep your hands off,
but you inch forward, behind shields, drawing lines in the sand. 
So we grab what we can,
cause this might be it, you stared at our pain,
and your patience subsided, you box us in, surround us, throwing gas on the flames,
and when we react as you would we are labeled insane,
yet it's fine for you to act out after games in the name of celebration and no ones to blame, 
how strange that we are not deserving of the same means of expression when we're seeking change. 

I'm tired, and who knows what will become of these words,
will you ignore them as usual or give this the time it deserves? 
Will you target me now, or seek to discuss,
just how we can build a bridge and close this gap between us?   

Should I arm myself now, cause I know you have yours,
we are asking to be equal, seems like you're asking for war,
all this just because we are asking for more?
What you ask us to pledge to, what you ask us stand for,
you say be more American, so it's our right to demand more,
for our children, our future, our voices, our rights,
our choices, our chances, our peace and our life,
to leave in the morning and come home at night,
and to do it again everyday til it's right. Cause We Matter!

Ron Royal

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