By Button Poetry
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One of the submissions from the 2019 Button Poetry video contest.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
– [Man] Black lives matter.
00:04
All lives matter.
00:06
You matter. I matter.
00:09
But black lives matter.
00:12
See, when I say black lives matter
00:13
it is not to disintegrate any
00:15
other race because skin tone is just a shade.
00:19
Different colors but all the color.
00:20
Living different lives but we all
00:22
have lives and we all matter
00:25
but black lives matter.
00:27
You see black and brown people for
00:29
some reason have been treated differently.
00:31
We can take it back to the 16th century
00:33
when we were being shipped over seas see.
00:35
There was this man who spoke to me in my dream.
00:37
He told me to follow the dream.
00:40
Go create a scheme that’ll prevent another
00:41
dead teen and that’s why black lives matter I mean.
00:44
Would it matter to you if people you easily
00:47
compared to keep dying around you
00:49
and you similar thinking you can die too?
00:52
Tell me you won’t try to take a stand.
00:54
I’m not racist.
00:55
I’ll shake a hand and make a friend.
00:57
I understand that we both woman
00:59
and man but black lives matter again.
01:02
Why? They just shot another brother again.
01:06
It put me in complete attack mode.
01:08
Ready to attack those ones who pretend
01:11
we don’t matter when our lives do matter but see,
01:13
I’d rather live together in peace
01:15
then fall apart from hate.
01:18
Though it is a shame there are many
01:19
that would hate every word in this poem.
01:21
I wonder why it took this long
01:22
to realize black lives matter.
01:25
I wonder why some of my own brothers
01:27
don’t recognize our lives matter.
01:29
All over the mentality I have to eat
01:31
if even if I have to squeeze.
01:33
You see I had a scheme that the man
01:35
in my dream told me to create
01:37
’til I looked up and another life was
01:39
being tooken away and another booked away.
01:42
And that’s why black lives matter.
01:45
I look at today and see blinded youth,
01:47
more lies than truth, all lives
01:49
are truly worthy to be appreciated.
01:51
I don’t feel appreciated so I gotta make
01:53
a change well I say again with a race fixin
01:55
to picket sign easily recognize with
01:57
42 million behind me y’all agree
02:00
to the effect that our lives are black and we matter.
02:04
– [Man] You matter. I matter. All lives matter.
02:08
But black lives matter.
02:09
You see, majority to minority that go
02:12
to prison or end up being sent to the heaven’s gates.
02:15
I’m just trying to set the record straight
02:16
that black lives matter.
02:19
And it seems majority of the majority
02:20
would just ignore our speeches
02:23
but even though it says we march
02:24
for no reason you can still find me outside
02:27
even in winter season and that
02:28
the top of my lungs screaming black lives matter.
02:32
Over and over and over.
02:36
– [Man] Until we find closure
02:37
or at least come closer to equal treatment.
02:39
No need for policemen to strap up like
02:41
we come to start a war.
02:43
Why, because all that does is start a war.
02:46
And I see a war has begun.
02:49
But war is not the way we’ll
02:50
be able to escape this madness.
02:52
I’m just asking if you can understand
02:54
this definition of black lives matter
02:56
and our true mission of black lives matter
02:59
is to eliminate the resentment
03:00
and black lives that matter.
03:02
Go spread the message that black lives matter.
03:07
– [Man] You see, I thought I had a scheme
03:09
that the man in my dream told me to create
03:12
’til he appeared in another dream one day
03:15
and reminded me that they’re eyeing
03:16
me so try to be careful.
03:18
Because they don’t care for you.
03:22
Apparently lives don’t matter.
03:25
Not until that life is shattered.
03:27
But before that life is shattered we need
03:29
to realize that we do matter.
03:31
You matter.
03:32
– [Man] I matter.
03:33
All lives matter.
03:36
But what is more urgent
03:37
is that black lives matter.
03:43
– But I want you to know the night
03:45
that we as a people will get to the promise land.
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
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