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Photo by BP Miller on Unsplash

Blacks
exist within every urban area of America.
They struggle daily just to stay alive,
cuz’ the ghetto is where most gangs thrive.

Red and Blue
Blood and Crips, Lords and Disciples,
today is the perfect time to open our eyes.
Stop and look at where the real problem lies.
If killing each other is not enough,
Blacks are killed while in handcuffs.

Black, blue, tan and green
those are the colors the problem wears
entrusted to serve and protect.
Humanitarianism some of them neglect.

Be not mistaken,
no society can survive without law enforcement;
but enforcing the law
doesn’t mean killing the innocent.

Stop the violence in our nation.
Start within our neighborhoods.
Gangs
trade in your guns for megaphones,
and make your voices heard.

Black is beautiful, Black is strong.
“Anyone” who unjustly kills a Black is wrong.
It takes LOVE to overcome any and every type of evil.
So let’s color this world with LOVE;
especially us Black people.

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

Clyde Whitfield III is a poet of African American and German descent incarcerated in California.