FEATURE ARTICLE

Babs AjayiWednesday, December 10, 2014
[email protected]
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
TO YOUR FRIENDS

I CAN'T BREATHE

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can't breathe
Choked and held to the ground
Within seconds of contact and engagement
Repeated pleas ignored, force enhanced
Hands crushed behind the back, body pressed to the ground
Head squashed against concrete with both hands, both hands!
Swarmed and congested by men paid to protect
I can't breathe

The chokehold master at work
Deadly force his preferred tool of enforcement
His two hands crushed face against the concrete
Number 99 came to choke, to crush and kill

He was licensed to kill and no caution required, no care taken
Four, five men of force enforced the law
Death harvested over a petty matter
Death sanctioned by a grand jury, another authorized murder - again!
The Grand Jury is the American grand deception - to kill, crush and maim
Death has come to America with grand jury approval

I can't breathe
Can you hear me?
Oh, ignored, injured and crowded out
Air flow blocked and body bruised and battered
Illegal cigarette sale suddenly a capital crime
Deserving capital punishment on the street
What part did colour play in this?
What role did machoism play?
A troop needed to enforce cigarette sale in Staten Island?
Who is served and who is protected?

Crushed, battered, bruised and killed
Chokehold used, gun abused, excess force deployed
The police and the grand jury at work, at work to kill
Your well-paid protectors are chokehold and trigger-happy
The safeguard is now the killing guard

And now we can't breathe
Afraid we might become the next Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, or Michael Brown
Killed while in full surrender with the connivance of police and the grand jury
I plead again: I can't breathe

Babs Ajayi
December 5, 2014

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