You can't save them all

This post is dedicated to Oscar Grant.

This night let us toast the memory
of a young father
with shattered champagne glass windows
and burning tires

Let us honor his last words
uttered with such force
for his four year old daughter
they painted the grey cement pink where he lay

With kicked in windshields
47 dollars
from a laundromat register
and a thizzelle dance
atop a honda civic

Who the fuck
do you think you are
Oakland

dont you see your children
watching?
little minds making connections
violence makes violence

when a people feel powerless
they steal it from among themselves
transferring oppression
through pathetic violence

The panthers would be sick
to see
we're teaching their kids
the language of victim

Your wallet is a gun
we say
treat it as such

Your life is expendable
we say
treat it as such