Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray
Philando Castile, Sandra Bland
Laquan Mcdonald, Tamir Rice
Eric Garner, Alton B. Sterling
Michael Brown
Do those names speak something to you?
Yes, No? Maybe not.
Well, they speak to me because I’m like
each and every one of them, although
they may not be my aunty, uncle, dad, brother, sister or cousin
It still hurts to know that my skin is black
And that’s all you see
You don’t see what I hold is light
Not darkness, although you can’t see my light
Because you just saw Marcus on 13th street
rob a liquor store and now all black people
are threats, but when Thomas shot up a school
He’s mentally unstable, pathetic right?
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that Thomas didn’t
Have a mental issue but what if Marcus did too?
His mom was on drugs and he didn’t know
How to handle the pain of seeing his mom
Kill herself. But you didn’t know that ‘cause
you shot him at the scene, but you handcuffed
Thomas, and the officer for Marcus
Oh he’s getting paid on leave. You
Still don’t see me. I’m not just a black girl
Pulling the black card on every racist remark
You make, i’m just letting you know that being black
Is not to be taken as a joke. You may see me today
But I might be gone tomorrow . Whether I get shot at a
Traffic stop, or they just thought I fit the description of a skinny black
male, though I am female. And by every black kid who was killed
Or taken too early, didn’t have the time to get their crown
Well behold my skin is still brown.

Want to know why we chose this topic for our In-Depth section?  Check out this letter from the editor.