Outside My Window
by Nikki Gray

How is it there is laughter outside my window
That I hear banter outside my window
Life carrying on outside my window
As if they too weren't trapped in this causality loop of hatred, racism, and death
As if their skin, like mine, kissed by the sun
wasn't also a bulls-eye
a black dot in a white world
waiting to be fired upon, choked out
broken, beaten, killed

How is it the streets are silent
That the wails of anguished mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters, sons and daughters
do not pierce the air, drowning us in their sorrows
Too many forced to nurse their pain voiceless
How is it that black blood is so easily white-washed away
As if it was never spilled
As if it didn't matter

How is it that today looks like yesterday
That progress looks like an illusion we foolishly believed in
and the changes made only temporary band-aids to a wound in need of surgery
How is it that the sacrifice of our ancestors has been forgotten
Their struggle forgotten
Their hardship forgotten
The lessons learned forgotten
How is it today looks like yesterday
That we've gone backwards
instead of moving forward

How is it the storm hasn't been noticed
the dark clouds rolling in
Thunder gathering strength
its force anger boiling over
Lightning striking all in its path
How is it the alarms haven't sounded
that the signs haven't been noted
that the danger is being ignored
Until... it is too late

Nikki Gray from Ann Arbor, MI, is a singer, songwriter, and poet currently residing in Atlanta, GA. 

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