For Trayvon Martin & Oscar Grant & Sean Bell & The Danziger 7 & Aiyana Stanley-Jones & the list goes on...

I wrote this the day the Oscar Grant verdict came down. My heart was heavy and there definitely wasn't a shortage of tears. I was in Houston at the time at a restaurant with my manager, and had a show that night. The last thing I wanted to do was perform. We headed back to the hotel, I went up to the room & he stayed in the lobby. He told me to write. I didn't think I could, mainly because I didn't know where to start. 

Oscar Grant was my brother. I'd put my hope in the American justice system one last time and they spit on me and laughed in my face. Again. The Oscar Grant trial verdict was a resounding 'fuck you' to Black America. They let us know as clearly as they could that in this country we aren't shit.
We don't matter. We're here for entertainment purposes only.

Trayvon Martin is just another reminder of what we already know. But how many reminders do we need? And how often do we need them?
Is this just their way of keeping us in line? 

I'd love to tell you I'm outraged by the Trayvon Martin incident but I'm not. I'm saddened and reminded. I'm not moved to act because my hope in this country was murdered along time ago with Oscar Grant. I'm not apathetic. Far from it. I'm just weighed down and empty because I'm not surprised by the Trayvon Martin incident. I'm not suprised it happened and I'm not surprised his killer is still roaming free.

Whites have been acquitted with far more compelling and telling evidence against them. Why would Zimmerman be different?

Do I want justice for Trayvon? Absolutely! Do I expect it? No. It doesn't mean that I'm not acting it just means that this incident alone hasn't compelled me to do so. When I was younger, my own brother, Michael Moore, Jr. was fatally shot in the back while on his knees with his hands up. Trayvon Martin is just another swift jolt out of my numbness, another reminder for me.

Dear America, I hear you. I don't need another reminder. You can stop now.

oh & fuck you too.

--KAMMs