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Poetry Finalist: “Innocent or Guilty?”

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They say you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty.
But what makes someone innocent, and what makes them guilty?
Is it when somebody steals cigars on the street or when a police officer ends a young life at 23?
When the police believe to “ask later, shoot first,” it only shows our system at its worst.
And what about people who riot for peace
Who cause civilians so much fear that they have to call the military police?
And who is so above the law to say when a criminal’s life can be taken away?
And society says that race and gender have no part to play, but a black teen is 21 times more likely to get their life taken away.
We live in a era where somebody will spend little time on Earth for stealing some bread, while criminals are set free for shooting someone in the head.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make them the bad guys.
Most police are our allies who protect, serve, and risk their lives for us and who’ve done so much to gain my trust.
But just remember a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
This cannot become our normality and like Al Sharpton once said,
“We’re not anti-police, we’re anti-brutality.”

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