Trayvon Martin

America...land of the free

from prosecution for those

who wear the self-appointed title

of watchmen/given passes

to carry out execution at will,

with no retribution for those whose blood spills

in the streets where police target our sons,

our neighbors, our friends, our brothers

shot down with guns the state

supplies readily to white vigilantes.

Told my teenage nephew today,

"don't go outside holding candy

as it might be seen

as an open display of hostility

by those who might see your black skin

and youth as a sign of the enemy."

Warned him out of fear

not to raise his hoodie above his ears,

as the only hoods they want raised

are those above their own heads

and fleece above the neckline

is certainly a sure sign

of acting suspiciously

by those who patrol streets,

imagining scenes of confrontation,

as pulses begin to race quickly,

praying another night will be ending

with one more lifeless body to add to their list

of black lives ended too quickly.

Assured they will face no charges

as those who take the lives

of black men are quietly regarded

as heroes, as devastated

mothers who wait at

windows for their slain sons to come home

are encouraged not to weep

for joy comes in the

morn', while each day you wake

is a reminder that white men

can take the lives of children

who committed no crime,

aside from failing to realize

predators are on the prowl

and they are the prey.

So as families plead that

policing agencies will take

action, grieving as they

pray for justice,

killers are sentenced only to protection,

in a nation where freedom

is an abstract theory to those

who see fury over Kony

but no 8 million views will be seen

detailing the gunning down of a

of a Floridian teen.

Where is the uprising

for Trayvon Martin,

which celebrities will be marching

while the FBI says they are

only "monitoring the situation,"

which means little to those

who know that typically leads

to no prosecution, no media

sensation, as there is rarely

a hesitation to close the case

when it involves

"just one less black face on the streets."

So today, as my nephew walked

to a friend's home, I again felt

the fear of sending him out alone

into a world where young men

are regarded as inconsequential

rather than as favored children.

And I found myself standing in the

window for long moments after

he had gone and said a prayer

for his safe journey home and

another prayer for the mother

of Trayvon who no longer can

hope for her own son's return.

(I would pray that no matter what your ethnicity, that you would stand in solidarity against a policed state, wherein young men can be murdered while the police sit idly by hoping the incident will soon be forgotten. Please sign the change.org petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-17-year-old-trayvon-martin and remember to wear all black on Wednesday, March 21st in commemoration of Trayvon and the countless others who came before him. https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/266335826782994/ )