There Are No Words For This

Thinking about ?#?blacklivesmatter? we must remember that this issue is so much broader than the young lives cut short by police. This is not to minimize what is occurring. But remember our young black men lost to gang and street violence and those being funneled through the street to prison pipeline. We are losing so many young black men.

I frequently think of a young client shot on a street corner. I may be one of the only ones now who holds his memory and knows his story for what it was. He was more than anything he did on that street corner or how his life ended.  His life mattered.

I share this spoken word which a colleague wrote at the time of his death:

There Are No Words For This
(for Rashamel)

common sense says
that a lawyer
working with kids
society calls "at-risk"
should be prepared
for this

i know boys
who carry guns
more often than school books
so
i should be
prepared for this
call
email
knock on my office door
whisper in the corner
the news
that some boy
has been taken
by a bullet
for no reason
that makes sense

and
i am not
because you are not
here
anymore
you.
you.
you...
if i close my eyes
i can see you
young
smiling
easy laughter
mistakes - not perfect -
but always
here
going some where
you.
you.
you.

i am not
prepared
for this to be true
now
for you
not to be
anymore

and i feel
responsible
just as to blame
as those who make guns
or pull triggers
because this is my world
this is where i live
these are the streets
i have agreed to
where you
are not
anymore

there is no prepared
no words
for where you
your going
can be as easy
as your laugh

right now
i can only
say that my heart
my heart
my heart
my heart
does not know
not really.
because i close my eyes
and see you (still)
smiling
laughing
young
and moving
always moving
some where