Could We Be Loved?
Click Here for details of this large artwork installation.
Milen Aklilu created this poem and large collage a few days after the murder of George Floyd to highlight the grave injustices Black people of all intersections face when it comes to policing in the United States.
By Milen Aklilu
They say the skyline is the limit.
But for who?
We the black people have dreams too.
But how could we ever live our dreams when the police are killing us?
Bob Marley turned his hell into a melody that touched everyone's soul and kept him alive.
What does your child love to do?
What did Tamir Rice love to do?
How can we ever know when the police insist on perpetuating a statistic that foresees 1 out of 5 black men dying before the age of 25?
Live life, enjoy your family.
How could we when we have to live in constant fear of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, or daughters being killed at the hands of police whenever they walk out of the front door?
I'm in control.
Who’s in control?
The innocent black man who believes he holds the power to make something great of himself or the police officer with a god complex that can erase a human life off the face of the Earth within a matter of seconds?
With liberty and justice for all.
Justice for who?
Eric Garner? Trayvon Martin? Breonna Taylor? Alton Sterling? Philando Castile? Michael Brown?
We, the black people
Could we be loved?
They treat us as if we are equivalent to the dirt on the bottom of their shoe.
Step on our necks till we run out of air.
Kneel on our necks till we are begging for our life.
When living through loss feels like a dead end, what would you do to protect our voices?
Do not let us wait in vain for change.