Targets

By: Yamel Alomari, 8th Grade

I wake up with a skin tone I can’t 
Control
Say it ain’t so.

I love my color! In fact I'm proud of 
My color, but sometimes I feel like 
Another.
Another black target as soon as I 
Walk out that door
Have me thinking what the ones 
Before me was even fighting for.

Martin Luther King speech, now that was impactful
But see, iI thought he did it 
So we wouldn’t have to.

Today I find myself at a protest
Screaming out “who's next?’’ 

George Floyd “I can’t breathe’’
Trayvon martin “What are you 
Following me for?”
Sandra bland “ What did I do wrong?” 
The list goes on and on.

See, being black feels like a target now, 
Waiting to be oppressed with no justice 
One word "disgusting."

A president associated with the 
“KKK’’
But still they voted for him.

Laughing at our poverty “what do you 
Have to lose’’ was a quote that got
Me!

When I walk outside it's hard not to worry 
Will I return home 
Will I be so lucky.

We begging for our rights and equality as humans 
Hoping these police don’t do us in.

See this is what happens when you’re black in America 
No such thing as “ Home of the free”
Just targets waiting to happen with 
Camera phones to see them.

Someday I will tell my kid, still in 
“2020” 
We weren’t safe 
We were black 
Killed because of our race.