A poem by Ruby Iyabode Joseph
I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe
Passersby tried in vain to stop the siege
A helpless man who couldn’t stand, was violently restrained on the ground
And, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe.
A cop on top, full force he dropped
His knee upon our brother’s neck to stop
He gasped for air, in utter despair, helplessly begging for life
“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
We looked upon him, as he passed away
Calling for his mom to show him the way
He pled, he cried, to stay alive– but we all saw
That he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe.
It’s egregiously unfair, that they did dare, in broad daylight
To snatch his life, in plain sight
We saw him plead, we saw him scared, and soon as we all feared
He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe.
Protests abound, looters astound, and fires strongly rage
As our citizens stand up and take center stage
Tear gas, smoke, hands up by most, as people chant
“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
We are angered and enraged
With righteous indignation and madness
As we spend our days confused, protesting, in suffocating sadness
Because our son, brother, and weeping father, was brutally killed by an oppressor’s knee on his neck
But only now “ We too can’t breathe, we can’t breathe, we can’t breathe!”
Ruby Iyabode Joseph, Wesley Chapel
