We Need To Breathe
by Winston Nugent
(For George Floyd)
We are not in this world as nobody
We are not in this world to hide from the dread of inhumanity
We are not in this world to live in fear of the unlawful
or flee from our detestation
We need to breathe!
We are not in this world to die,
not from the spite of hate or
despised the color of our skin
then beg for mercy
We need to breathe!
We are not in this world to bleed
like slaughtered hogs
or forgive the act of racism
We need to breathe!
We are not in America to be killed discriminatively
We are the world people
We are the feeling people
We are the fighting people
We are the loving people
We are the living people
The soulful!
The original . . . PEOPLE!
The head cornerstone of this NATION!
And we need to breathe!
Editor’s note: Winston Nugent’s poem is in response to the news of an unarmed George Floyd being killed by a police officer during a stop for an alleged nonviolent offense, while a crowd of onlookers begged the officers to stop. Winston Nugent is a poet, short story writer and playwright, who lives on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
