Massacre by Michelle Dodd (Interlude)

Time will not be on our side
As long as the skin we are in isn’t considered human
We’re not trees who’s braches bow in the wind
We’re strong like the ancestral blood running through our veins
Trust me when I say, tears are not red
They cannot run through our veins as if, to give us our lives back
They fear us because they think the human in us is more animal than anything
else
The streets are littered with shell casings
We can’t even make it home anymore
There is agony the air, on corners, everywhere
There are hauntings on sidewalks, block by block
They haven’t stopped, they haven’t slowed down
There aren’t enough fingers to hold our people’s name with
They were pulled out from our mouths like exit wounds
If we move, we get shackled
If we stay still, stay silent, time will not be on our side