On February 26, 2012 a vigilante stalked a young black boy
Whose only crime was the hoodie he wore walking home
And shot him where he stood
Because cellphone, skittles, metal pipe, toy gun, it doesn’t really matter what they are holding
Black men and boys and women and girls end up dead in our streets
Whether its at the hands of a drug lord or the officer who should’ve protected them
When Stephon Clark bled and screamed and died for talking on a cellphone
I doubt he was thinking about who pulled the trigger
But was thinking about the 8 bullets that took him from his kids
On Valentines Day this year bullets ripped through backpacks
As 17 young bodies hit the ground
And their friends called home in case it was the last time
they could tell their parents they loved them.
Now edge lords, politicians, and news anchors
Mock the traumatized teenage survivors of gun violence
Everyday women like me,
The 1 in 4 women who have or are or will experience abuse
are five times more likely to be killed
If their partners have a gun
Abusers words turn to bullets sent out by trigger happy fingers
And everyday 46 people take their own life with a gun
Like the 12 year old boy on my sisters track team
Who should’ve made it to high school
The American dream is now a nightmare because nearly half of Americans
Know someone lost to gun violence
We rank 14th in education
But first in gun homicides among developed nations
The Bible says that faith without action is dead
So it is that thoughts and prayers are dead as well
They are dead like the 7 children killed everyday from playing with a gun
Like the 13 veterans who turn their weapon of war against themselves everyday
Like the 50 women a month shot by their husbands and boyfriends
Our thoughts and prayers are dead
Until we the church take action
And so I ask you, you who stands on the edge of the cliffs of change
The seas below glimmering with promise
And the lands from whence you came are barren and burned
And so i ask you
Will you jump?
Will you act?
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