Violence In America
By: Steve Schultz
A boy lay silent on the concrete
A fearful man, nose broken, stumbles to his feet.
There’s violence in America
Stars and stripes of racial disdain
Free to pull the trigger, absolved of the blame.
A boy eating Skittles texting about some crazy cracker
A man sees a threat, a suspicious character, he tells the dispatcher.
There’s violence in America
A culture tells a boy to be a man you must use your fists
A culture tells a man, be so scared, keep a Glock at your wrist.
It really doesn’t matter if the man stayed in his car or the boy rushed into his house
Death is not an isolated instance when violence is a country’s spouse.
There’s violence in America
We claim to be one nation under God, but that’s really pretend
Instead of loving our neighbor, we fear people who should be our friend.
A boy lay dead in his neighborhood, killed by his own neighbor
How many more dead children until we prioritize love as our preeminent labor?
There’s violence in America
My spirit shakes for the boy with a bullet hole in his heart
I pray for my country, whose lack of love made the pursuit start.
A boy lay silent on the concrete
We must start loving each other, for the Trayvon’s to have peace.
There shouldn’t be violence in America
