Police

I smelled the burnt buildings on my way into work

I was told to leave for my safety.

My cousin is on the front lines, for the police.

No one in my family reads this, but if they do, I bet i will hear about it.

Fuck, I don't want to write this.

But I feel like I have to write this.

It takes approximately 3-5 minutes to suffocate a human being

The officer's knee was on the man's neck for 1o minutes or more

He knew exactly what he was doing, yet he continued

The man pleaded with the officer, said he could not breathe, the officer continued.

3 other officers watched while it happened, they said nothing.

An ambulance was called.

When they arrived the man had no pulse. Dead.

And they wonder why people are mad?

I do not care why the officers were there, its immaterial

I do not care what the mad allegedly did, its immaterial

I do not care if he resisted arrest, its immaterial

He should not be dead.

Handcuffed.

On the ground.

Face down.

Subdued by all accounts.

Should be alive today.

But he is dead.

His killer still lives as a free man

No charges.

Video proof.

Stone-faced on his neck.

Murder.

I can't stop thinking about this kid I went to school with

He always told me, that he wanted to be a cop

So he could work in South Minneapolis

And "fuck up" all the black people.

I told him he'd be a terrible cop

That he would never get a job

Because he said shit like that

But I was wrong.

He became a cop.

In South Minneapolis.

I want to think that there are good cops,

but then something like this happens,

and they all band together.

Not a single officer speaks out against it

Not a sing officer says that it is wrong

In their silence there is all the proof you need

That the behavior is systematic.

It's not one bad egg, it is a diseased chicken laying eggs

This is in their training.

This is them doing their jobs "right".

And they wonder why people are mad.

Of course people are going to protest.

And unarmed man was murdered in the street

By someone paid to "serve and protect"

The officers make it worse through the use of force

Indiscriminately using mace and pepper spray

Mass arresting their problems away

Further abuses of their powers

What do expect to happen?

Armed police killing unarmed people can only happen for so long

Until the unarmed pick up arms and start killing the police

Push and push and push and push

Until you reach a breaking point

And then there is no turning back

It's clear as day

Police vs everybody else

Government vs society

Viva la revolution

All cops are bad cops

Abolish the police

Burn the institution to the ground