i can't breathe

I've been in a bit of a fog the last few days since the news of George Floyd's death, already in the wake of so many tragic, horrifyingly racist deaths in recent times. I've been considering what I would write for days. I keep hoping a poem will come to me that helps me put words to the weight, the horror, the anger, and the shame around these issues and events. But no words have come. At least not yet. And maybe that's how it should be, because I'd rather give this post to the voices of people who have not been heard for far too long. Here are two powerful speakers who have done us the honor of sharing some of their life and heart. The least we can do, and the best place to begin, is to listen.

A speech by a man I met while working with TeenPact in high school:
https://www.facebook.com/seyi.olusina/videos/1436203243129676/ 

A spoken word by the artist Propaganda: