In honor of Black History Month The Pride’s featured poem this month is by poet Victor Yates.
Yates is a writer, storyteller, and digital media artist. His Black Lives Matter spoken word performance, Death Sentence, received a grant from the city of West Hollywood in 2020. He was also awarded a grant from West Hollywood to shoot a documentary recording narratives of older gay men to preserve for younger generations.
Yates is the winner of the 2020 George Floyd Honorarium for Poetry from the Los Angeles Press and was awarded a grant from the city of Glendale for a new spoken word performance in 2021. He won the 2017 Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers and the 2016 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction for his book, A Love Like Blood.
DEATH SENTENCE By: Victor Yates
1.
AAA
To exhibit skill, English archers shot arrows through the eye socket of a bull’s skull.
The first Target store opened in the suburbs of Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1962.
It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
AAA
In 2016, Philando Castile was murdered for being Black and suspicious. I wasn’t reaching for it, was all they heard before there were no sounds. The cop, holding a gun, felt threatened.
AAA
Horns, unlike antlers, are an extension of the skull and usually found on both males and females.
AAA
To live in a Black body means balancing the burden of hundreds of skulls on your head to allow in other burdens.
AAA
A cop locked his knee cap into George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds killing him in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
AAA
Across the country, riots broke out following attacks at the hands of the police In 1967. It was called the long, hot summer.
AAA
It’s kind-of Alice in Wonderland with the same moving picture re-shown over and over again.
So, when the bulls eye burned during protests no one had to tell me. My skull itched from the shock of bone when smoke filled my home.
2.
The first time someone called me the n-word was in West Hollywood.
When I was 16, my mother told me, smile while my photo was taken at the DMV. If I was stopped, the police wouldn’t think I was threatening.
To be young, gifted, and black means nothing at 12am and a cop pulls you over.
At a nightclub on Santa Monica Blvd., a white man kicked me in the back and called security to kick me out. He owned the club.
In 1969, if you were Black you had to show 3 picture ID’s to gain entrance into clubs in West Hollywood.
I’m not young anymore and I haven’t had anything to smile about in months.
We’re taught from the moment we leave the house to remember we are black. Blackness is reason enough to be stopped.
Some Nights at 3am I wake up to a wingtip stuck in my back.
AAA
3.
AAA
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord
cops arent called to keep
The peace with spray of bullets
Angels
watch me through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
Under morning light and flashlight
AAA
eric garner said
“I can’t breathe!”
Died in a prohibited chokehold.
AAA
Sgt. James Brown said
“Please take the mask off! I cannot breathe. Please.”
died after injected twice with sedatives and an anti-spit mask placed on his face.
AAA
Willie Ray Banks said
“I can’t breathe!”
died. After Shocked with a taser multiple times.
AAA
Byron Lee Williams said
“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” 17 times.
died. He looked suspicious on a bicycle.
AAA
elijah mcclain said
“I can’t breathe correctly!”
Died August 30, 2019
Three days after
placed in a chokehold and
sedated.
AAA
Breonna Taylor
Last words unknown
Shot 5 times
But she was alive
For at least five minutes, as she struggled to breathe
AAA
Be a voice for Breonna
And speak up for Black women
AAA
Be hands for Elijah
And hold on to each other.
AAA
Be legs for Bryon
Willie
James
Eric
And those whose names are unknown stand up for somebody else.
AAA
4.
AAA
Tishuan Said
AAA
Here in this land,
turned by African hands,
Into a nation advanced
by free work
We lie.
AAA
Here in this land
blood seeped into Earth–
dripped from lash,
fear and whip crack.
“Freedom,” We cried.
AAA
Here in this land,
We cried out
A litany in pews,
Down in the deep New South,
swung from trees
burned by gasoline.
“Equality,” We pleaded.
AAA
Here in this land,
Gunshots rang out,
water blasted
canines ripped flesh
Of those supposed as less–
“Justice” We screamed.
AAA
Here in this land,
Played out on TV screens,
History repeats.
And the caption reads
AAA
Unarmed Black Man Shot Dead By Police
AAA
Here
In this land
turned by great hands
Into a nation advanced
by free work
AAA
Yet vilified as We are,
Rise up Black people, rise.
So we all can breathe
AAA
You can find a video of Victor Yates reading the complete poem at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZH_QCztmsQ
And a Q & A about the poem with Victor Yates and fellow poet Brian Sonia-Wallace at https://youtu.be/d6QtotBjhro
