Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

by Jace Valentine

How many times

 How many times will a black man have to die?

Die on camera

How many lives.

How many mothers,daughters, sons, cousins,and friends shed tears of grief?

Because of police brutality.

How long 

How long must I be peaceful?

You’ve killed my people,

Raped my women, 

Brutalize my men,

Striped away our truth.

 If all the tears of pain pooled together,

 America would be at the bottom of the ocean.

Igbo Landing

We've fought our whole lives,surviving, running,we’ve cried, begged and pleaded

To receive... 

Systematic oppression 

Institutional racism 

...in return

 According to the bible of the US = constitution“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of  Happiness.”

How can we be happy, when we’re under a system designed to oppress and repress?

How can we have life, but be murdered in broad daylight because of the color of skin?

How can we be free, when the system is kneeled onto our necks and we scream we can't breath? 

In that moment, I'd rather be 3/5th human than 5/5th pig.