Black Lives Matter

Sallow silence...
How can I not say "Black Lives Matter"?
How can anyone say it?
Yet, politically charged, 
The semantics of the group make it so
That it is pure rhetoric.

Black Lives Matter,
So we must forfeit our fortune...
Our aspirations...
Our futures...
Our freedoms...

To even say this, I know,
Puts me under their condemnation.
Yet, I support the fact that Black Lives Matter.
So much so, that I believe the organization could effect real change.
I see its potential,
To free me from my own bonds.
But, it will not.
Rather, it will take from me everything I've worked for.

To fix the problems,
Abolish criminal records.
For it is not a race that is subjugated,
But those of us who have sinned,
And none will let us regain our footing.
Many blacks live good lives,
And it's because they hadn't gotten into trouble.

Yet, a cop shouldn't harass a black man.
A man should be judged on the content of his character.
There is a certain mien to a bad man
That on black or white,
It can be seen,
And it can be understood that such a man is bad.
Perhaps it is misfortune that brings that mien,
But it is a universal fact.

Judge the content of character,
A lot of character traits can be known at first glance.
It can be known,
So to purge the known,
Purge the criminal records.
Yet, don't abolish the people who protect us.