Blood Is Thicker Than Water

“In America, 93% of Black victims

were killed by Blacks from 1980-2008”

--U.S. Department of Justice

Blood is thicker than water

yet we fail to trace back our blood

into the veins of the freed slaves

that sacrificed their lives for us

Blood is thicker than water

but pulling triggers and

watching the thickness of blood fade

as it spills out of our hearts

gives no meaning

It’s funny how blood stains

are more popular than water

flowing into dehydrated lips

It’s even funnier how

Dr. King was murdered in the arms

of freedom and liberty

fighting for us

Now we refuse to

dive into his blood trails

making him regret

giving us water

for our dehydrated

Lips that dry

from pronouncing words

through tongues that bled

Our words fail to

contain rhythm

fail to drink the music

of our history

but they never failed

to feed us our freedom

They fed us our freedom

and we never asked how

How they lost their

limbs in battle

for equal rights

How their hearts

stopped beating

but kept bleeding

Blood is thicker than water

but today the thickness

of our blood fades

the moment we say

black lives matter

Because when a white man

kills a black man

#blacklivesmatter

but when a black man

kills a black man

black lives don’t matter

We forget to trace our blood

into the veins of the freed slaves

who taught us how to stand as one

now we stand as negative numbers

misplaced on a numberline

‘it’s easier to rebuild strong children

than to repair broken men’

if only Douglass knew how

broken we would be

Our bodies are piling up

on the concrete of our streets

mostly because of us

lessly because of them

We are endangering our species

to an alienated race

but soon reaching

the finish line

‘education is the passport

to the future’

but if only Malcolm knew

we’d rather fight over streets

we’ll never own

than dive into his blood trails

We are broken

because we are becoming

less human and more alien

less heart and more hate

We believe that blood is thicker than water

but never value the strength in our blood

never traced back to the freed slaves

never dived into their blood trails

we want to escape

so the bodies stop piling

but forget to take our passport

It’s funny how

when a white man

kills a black kid

we stand as one

It’s even funnier how

when a black kid

kills a black kid

we are negative numbers

misplaced on a numberline

Ignored their tears

because we believe

blood is thicker than water

but their cries flooded

through our veins

deeper than the blood

spilling out of our hearts

violence is dancing on the tongues of our children

Blood is thicker than water

but when our blood

is printed onto the streets

we once walked on

our blood will be empty

with no thickness left to fade