The headline read “Michael Dunn trial: Man accused of shooting teen over music.”

But all I heard was a lot of loud noise

Drowning out the truth,

like pouring bleach over a young black boy’s bloody shirt

and throwing it in with the whitewash.

 

In my house, every dinner was accompanied by the evening news,

my mother passing survival tips across the table like salt,

educating us on how to move through a world we were still trying to fit into

In your house, did you pass pep talks like pepper,

educating your son on how to move through a world that would always fit him

 

My mother taught my brothers to bow their heads down

to be submissive like subjects in a kingdom they don’t belong to

You gave your son a scepter in the form of a gun

and told him he was king

 

Your son scrawled “Ignorance begets intolerance” onto the walls of his jail cell, next to a sign that said "not all liars are thugs, but all thugs are liars."

So do not tell me that this is not about race

Everything about this was race

The race between your son’s holster and the knob of stereo

The racing heartbeats in the chests of a coward and a child

A race to determine if fear wrapped in a bullet casing can move faster through the chamber of a gun or the chamber of a heart

A race that is calling itself neutral - neutralizing threats that do not exist

Mrs. Dunn -

I understand that he is your son.

I understand that you feel that you must stand by his side,

that you must prove loyal to your family

but let me ask you a question:

if you had been with Michael when he met Jordan Davis,

would you have stood alongside him

and let him pull the trigger?

Would you have pulled it yourself?

 

You do not live in a dangerous world.

You created one.

The earth under your feet is littered with the bones of men and women who did not get gravemarkers, let alone gratitude

Callous attitudes and careless natures making graveyards of gas stations

My mother teaching us it is better to be silent than silenced

Mrs. Dunn,

when you were raising your son,

did you tell him it was better to be violent than victim?

 

The meek shall inherit the earth

but only after they have been buried in it.

 

The lawyer assigned to his case said the media attention it was receiving was unnecessary,

That if it weren’t for Zimmerman, people wouldn’t be paying attention.

How many young boys need to be murdered in the dark before we are willing to turn on the lights?