Dedicated to George Floyd, the black American killed by the boot of a white police officer.

We can't breathe.
My brown throat,
your black throat.
Both suffocated by
our oppressors’ boot.

The oxygen molecules,
our lifeblood,
choked off from reaching
our hearts and brains.

Oppressors cloaked in the
fake authority of a uniform:
a coward's way to impose
your white rules,
your so-called superior DNA.

We can't breathe.
Even the air is not for free.
Our lungs are too “colored”
for their oxygen.

We can't breathe.
They want us to disappear
for the sake of their fragile egos.

Your so-called justice is exposed
by the democracy of the camera
in the middle of the street.
Our dignity is too strong
to be crushed.