It doesn't have to be

Poor Mack Parker

They used you to try to put us in our place

Show us who’s boss

FBI Evidence the judges didn’t even look at 

Straight to the can with one toss

Falsely accused of the unthinkable

Overcome with passion

Poor Mack Parker met his end in the typical negro fashion

Dragged from his prison cell by his feet

So that his bloody head hit every step

Face red as a beet

After they kidnapped you from jail, they beat you

And with mind, soul, and being lynched 

They shot you twice

They weighed you down with chains

And tossed you into the water

Cold as ice

The next day, he was found

His body in a creek

And Poor Mack Parker, Innocent

Because of his skin-determined inferior

How bleak

But it doesn’t have to be 

The end

When I first found out about this incident

After doing further research prompted by a school reading project, 

My mind was perplexed and ensnared in a web of fear

My heart torn and outpouring

My childhood innocence violently ripped away from me

But then I realized that even though

Instances like this have happened before 

And still continue to

It doesn’t have to be 

The end

It doesn’t have to be

Our narrative

If you want change

To not be reduced

To the unfairly painted narrative

You have to 

Live authentically

Be proud of who your are

And actually act

On what you believe in

Or throw your beliefs in

With the towel

Foul People

Foul Play

They will continue to exist 

At the end of the day

But how you react to it 

Shapes your future

YOUR 

Future

It doesn’t have to be

Anyone else’s

It is what you make it