Plantation Lullabies For The New Millennium [Momma Said We Standing On Shaky Ground] & Jesus Wept.
They are not a flagrant generalization. They are the deranged reflection of
our centuries long struggle. They will strangle you for selling “loosies.”
They will shoot you if you go to the store to buy Skittles & ice tea, &
dare you to walk through their neighborhood to get home. When they
white flight, you are not welcome on their side of the tracks. They will
kill you if anybody says you were trying to pass counterfeit money.
Even if there’s no evidence. Even if a crowd gathers with cell-phones
amassed, begging the police to please stop. If you are minding your own
business, crossing the street, going to church, walking home a little tipsy
from the corner bar, just like they do anywhere, every day & any when.
They will billyclub beat yo ass if they stop you for speeding. They will
call for backup, mayday!! mayday!! more racist police to congregate
an effective lynch mob. They will kill you if you don’t move fast enough
when they say jump, nigger!! They will kill you because their wife said no!!
& made them sleep on the couch. If you do not comply, they will kill you
after they call you a nigger. If a white woman calls 911 & claims a Black man
is threatening her, they will kill you; & they don’t care if the cellphone video
says something different. If a white woman claims a Black man drowned her
children, your Black ass ain’t worth due process. If you reach for your ID,
after they demand that you show some ID, they will kill you. You’ll be
tortured, shot & drowned in muddy water if a white woman say you whistled
at her. If you are bipolar & refuse to let the pigs in, they will kill you.
If you try to buy an air rifle in Wal-Mart, or reach for anti-psychotic
medication, they will kill you. If you cos-play Captain America & just walking
down the street, they will kill you. If you ask them why they pulled you over,
again!!? they will kill you. If you get in an accident, are concussed & you ask
for help, they will kill you. They will beat you blind if you come home in uniform,
a war hero statistic of [un]friendly fire. If they batter ram your door, because
they got the wrong address; they will kill you. As your praying palms are raised
to Jesus. As you non-violent march & chant WeShallOvercome. They will kill you,
as long as you be patient . . . wait for blind bitch justice to lift her blindfold,
& finally see you. They will kill you; because they are Divine white entitled, &
you are better dead Black. They will kill you because you are unarmed.
If you jog down the wrong street, past the wrong bigots, they will kill you.
If you won’t put out your cigarette, they will hang you in your jail cell & call it
suicide. They will kill you;
because they know you won’t do to them what they have done to you.
henry 7. reneau, jr. writes words of conflagration to awaken the world ablaze, an inferno of free verse illuminated by his affinity for disobedience, is the spontaneous combustion that blazes from his heart, phoenix-fluxed red & gold, like a discharged bullet that commits a felony every day, exploding through change is gonna come to implement the fire next time. He is the author of the poetry collection, freedomland blues (Transcendent Zero Press) and the e-chapbook, physiography of the fittest (Kind of a Hurricane Press), now available from their respective publishers. Additionally, his collection, The Book Of Blue(s) : Tryin' To Make A Dollar Outta' Fifteen Cents, was a finalist for the 2018 Digging Press Chapbook Series. His work is published in Superstition Review, TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Poets Reading the News and Rigorous. His work has also been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.