A Poem for Oscar

Note: this verse by Jill McLaughlin was inspired by Nina Simone's "Mississippi, Goddam" (YouTube here)

Everybody Knows About Oakland, Goddam!

A Twisted verdict came down today

Goddam it takes my breath away

And What that  jury really meant to say

"Shoot a Black for free, you don't gotta pay"

I read somewhere as the cops pulled them from the train

Oscar called to people, "Ya all be cool"

He wasn't gonna play their  fool

But see they don't teach you in school

if Black in America it don't matter what you're doing

you can be loud, you can be quiet, you can be walking, you can be

working,  you can be poor, you can be doing alright for yourself, you can

be a Harvard professor, you can be a radical, you can be running, you

can be funning, you can be sleeping

all you're really good for is a jail cell or police shooting

I can hear Oscar's ancestors crying, hear Sean's and Aiyana's too

long history of toiling and dying, moments of really living too few.

A woman sang it best back then about Alabama, Tennessee and 

Mississippi.

Tonight it's Oakland goddam, but everybody knows it's from sea to

shining sea. 

Goddam