We are many shades lighter
But carry the most darkness
Complicit in the genocide
Of those who look different

We stand and watch and justify
For centuries, "It's just the way it is"
From shackles and chains of slavery
To the shackles and chains of prison

But recently we are starting to find
That some don't even make it there
Paying with their lives
With the dialing of three numbers

They take up their posters like crosses
They scream from the streets in protest
Trying to break free from our grasp
They can't breathe

From loose cigarettes to signing checks
Made to feel their existence is a threat
Desperate to prove their innocence
Without being given due process

No day in court, just ashes and graves
Lost fathers, brothers, and sons
Measured like prey by blue snakes
Squeezing until their last breath

We defend the actions of murderers
And give them another day in the light
As we try to shake the blood from our hands
Like we are not the guilty ones