come on down to the Mermaid Cafe

		the revolution 
                          (will be televised)





the revolution will be televised
bodycams and cellphone pics 

i see it.

you  see it.
 
    it’s everywhere

death
    bodies bleeding out
	on our streets
	in our cars
    young black men
	dying
    over skittles
	and hawking cds

we live in a world
    of fear and hatred

F E A R
	of the thin blue line
	of the people wearing their dark black skin
	of bullets
	of bullets
	of bullets
    piercing bodies
	    D E A D

and i don’t worry for my son 
    in the same way my friends worry for theirs’
    because 
	       chances are
	my son will survive
	walking the streets with skittles
			        and hoodies
			        and cds

and truth be told
	i hide behind my whiteness
i pass
     my grandmother’s beautiful darkness
	bleached to bone white through the generations
     her eyes
	married Wichita, Kansas
	and mine blaze blue
     generation after generation 
			we have whitened
	and lost our powers of speech
	       lost our spanish tongues

i pass

so it’s time for me 
	to speak   UP

to mention the thin blue line
	and dark black skin
	and of the bullets 
	           the bullets
	           the bullets
			that pierce the bodies of our kin
			that pierce the bodies of dark skin

the revolution will be televised
	and here it is caught on cell phone video
     we watch snuff films from the 
		safety
			of our laptops

     we cry our tears

and it’s time to say 
		 	 E N O U G H
because it is well past time
and i don’t want to have to explain this much death
				         this many bullets
				         this much pain
				to my six year old son
			i want his innocence to remain intact
				i want Travon’s life to remain intact
				and Alton’s
				and Micheal’s
				and
				and
				and
				and

the revolution 
(will be televised)