She stopped staring at me when she washes her hands and she started facing the wall to brush her hair.
-me
Some sort of poem 2
You’re still tonight.
I look over my shoulder to watch your stomach rise and fall.
I roll over and put my hand under yours, counting the beats.
You start to snore and I can close my eyes.
-me
Some sort of poem
This can mean whatever you want it to mean. I wrote this about somebody special. Welcome to my crowded mind.
We’re on a plane
There’s been turbulence
We’ve lost someone in the crash
Thank you
You put my mask on
And here we are
Up in the air again
Passing through the clouds
I’m opening the window
I’m looking down
And I can’t believe how far we’ve come
-me
ps. I’m glad we’re on the same plane.
From The Guardian Interview with Paul Butler, Author of “Chokehold: Policing Black Men” (Aug 11, 2017)
“The jury took less than 10 minutes to acquit me. But the experience made a man out of me. It made a black man out of me.”
-Paul Butler on his experience getting arrested, read the whole interview here.
To buy a copy of Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler, find a black-owned bookstore online here
From Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele
How easy it is to ignite human bias. Nothing special about the perpetrator or the victim is required. Ordinary human functioning–maintaining one’s self-esteem–is enough.