clutched in his hands

because his mama told him protestors are

burning

things down.

I don’t know where to start.

So we watch some peaceful protests

I don’t show him the murder but I tell him that George called out for his mama.

He cries.

I tell him about Tamir Rice

and Tyre King

and how toy guns in their black hands

were death sentences.

He weeps.

I tell him that cops are people and some are bad just like some people are bad

but the problem is that the bad cops are allowed to be bad

allowed to hurt boys who look like him

and then go home to their mamas.

I explain racism

as best as you can explain a senseless thing

to a child that doesn’t see color or understand hatred.

So I tell him that yes

the people are burning

I

am burning

and the pain and the anger and the fear that black and brown mamas have been holding for so long

is now demanding justice.

I see all the empathy and compassion missing from so many others

pouring out of a ten year old’s eyes

and I can’t help but wonder

maybe if we taught all our children the truth about how we got here

together they would make us a world

that didn’t have to burn.

This picture was taken over the weekend on Court Street. Protesters set up signs and pictures of Tyre King protesting and raising awareness from Wednesday’s shooting in Columbus, Ohio. King was a 13-year-old boy that was shot by a police officer after an alleged robbery. King had a BB gun that looked like a firearm that the police used and the cop shot the boy multiple times due to self-defense. These protesters are protesting for Tyre King and all of the black lives lost to law enforcement violence. Sensoy and DiAngelo describe internalized dominance as such, “internalized dominance refers to internalizing and acting out (often unintentionally) the constant messages circulating in the culture that you and your group are superior to the minoritized group and thus entitled to your higher position.” (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 49). Law enforcement officers often racially profile suspects. This practice continues the cycle of dominance that officers have over the public, especially certain groups of people.