Poetry 29/07/20
My name is Gabrielle, I am a fourteen year old, mixed raced girl from England, and poetry is my way of educating and speaking about causes I feel are important and need to be talked about.
Xx
The Kid
Music up loud
He's driving through the town
The windows ... down
Tupac's tunes filling the streets
The car shaking from the beats
But then there the sirens go
He looks in the mirror to see the po po
The sound echoes in his head
He knows the sound well and so he fled
Then he stops
As there are now multiple cops
Blocking his path
He knows it's no time to laugh
"Please sir I know I ran.."
"Keep your hands up" said the man
"But officer I'm not in the wrong!"
The car's radio was still playing Tupac's songs
"I only ran because I was scared..."
He was right he wasn't prepared
But he was surprised at what came next
A racial slur, like a bold in text
He didn't know what to do
He was ready to prance on this dude
But the guy had handcuffed his hands
There's no going back to get into his bands
The thing is stuff like this happens all the time
Expect some situations lives are on the line
People say that racism doesn't exist
But white cops in America don't resist
-Gabz
I Am Mixed
I'm aware I'm mixed
Living in a system that is pretty fixed
I am aware that I am not fully black
But should I feel offended by a racial attack?
I am aware that I am not fully white
But why does that mean the way I talk isn't right?
Does that mean that I am too dark Or too light?
I am aware that I am a mix
Of great battles and conflicts
A mix of greatness and gold
A story of freedom untold
But I am a mix of privilege and pain
Now we are fighting the same battle again.
A battle that has to be won
With one side pulling the trigger on the gun.
So you see I am confused at where I should stand
Which side of me should win the upper hand
Whether I should feel obliged to fight
Or stay quiet because I am 'half white'
But I shouldn't have to choose
There shouldn't be a win or a lose
We should all share the same views
And all be tired of hearing the same old news.
That another black man has died
At the hands of someone on the other side.
It is time to use the pain
As a chance to finally gain
The freedom we fought so hard for
The freedom, that needs to be restored.
Now back to the other half of me
The side that is already free,
We can fight in this battle too
Together we can prove the system is untrue
We can prove that it isn't fair
Black or white we all breathe the same air
Together we can unite
And win this awful, unfair fight.
So I am now, aware
That I am mixed with people who care,
And with a chance of change
The system, together, we can rearrange
So both sides of me are accepted
The way I am treated and my blackness
will be unconnected
And finally the whiteness in me
Will not be the only part that's free.
-Gabz
Thank you so much to Gabz for these beautiful words and powerful BLM photography. Go follow her insta accounts @_power.poems_ and @_photography_gabz for more.
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