Don’t shoot,
he calls out yet you pull the trigger regardlessly.
What bothers you more is his skin,
not how you live heartlessly.

Don’t shoot,
she cries out knowing her precious child did nothing wrong.
Now you can add him to the list of
lives prematurely gone.

Don’t shoot,
they said not just as a plea but as a memorised chime.
Because bullets are sensitive to colour
and rarely crime.

Don’t shoot,
your constant excuse is you misheard and you misjudged.
When really, a black man walking free is
something you begrudged.

Don’t shoot,
we know how the cycle goes so just skip to the end.
Who will be in the casket of the next funeral we attend?

(c) Copyright 2016 Rutendo C C

“Throughout history we have heard stories about how innocent black people have been killed and we are told that change will come.
It’s the 21st Century and a change has come, but why is it that I still turn on the TV and find another black person has been killed?
The saddest part is even those in high positions of authority (the police) will still shoot someone because of discrimination.

I give God the credit for all my poems because He is the one who puts the words into my heart and all I do is simply write them down.” – Rutendo