Strange Fruit (Hands Up Don't Shoot)

for Mike Brown

Hands up, hands up up don’t shoot!

still the same damn strange fruit

blood on the leaves and blood on the root

now it grows from the street

instead of the trees,

tear gas, sound cannons

and militarized police,

how many children gotta die

before we heal this divide?

societies irrational fear of black men

putting too many black kids in early coffins 

hiding behind badges, and 

stand your ground,

crying self defense 

as the lights go out

on the wrong side 

of the line between right

and now

and its a shout out but not

just about Michael Brown

it’s a road that every black man

in America’s been down.

like when I was driving in my car

and I heard the siren sound

pull over to the side and the

officer comes out,

“put your hands on the wheel

where I can see them NOW!”

unclipping the holster hand

gun on his belt,

all just for driving in the left lane

no ticket, no bullets, no harm

no foul.

or the time I was walking 

to work from my house,

getting pulled over just for

being out at 6AM 70 yards

away from my house,

“don’t move let me see some ID!

we’ve been having a lot of robberies you see

and you look kind of suspect to me.”

or the fear of our parents

every time we leave the house.

see I was taught how to 

act around police

since I was 11 years old

taught that I’d be shot

if I broke the mold

but even with our hands up,

sometimes they still shoot

black bodies dropping

the same old strange fruit

blood on the leaves

and blood on the root,

and I think it’s time we confronted the truth

its 2014 and we ain’t too far from the noose