“WHAT
I NEED”
BY REVEREND JOY POWELL in 2020
I don’t
need Police to kneel with me. I need you to get your knees off of our
necks. The Black and Latino lives are devalued, and they refuse to protect,
or correct. It’s not a figment of my imagination, why do they want
me to forget? I picture George Floyd that day with the officer’s
knee on his neck. It has me disgusted and totally vexed. We’re
pushed to the brink and forced to protest. It’s really happening.
It’s called “CIVIL UNREST!!”
I don’t need
to convince or justify your lies, of why you choose not to socialize.
If it doesn’t apply then let it fly. I need you to know that I
will rise, rise, rise. Can’t you hear the mothers, fathers, and
children’s cries? Innocent people of color on death row waiting
to fry. Why?
What you need to know
is, I’ve paid the ultimate price with my life, as an antiviolence
activist against violence and police brutality, and government corruption.
The voices are sounding all over the world like a volcano eruption. Now,
do you hear us, are you taking the Black life serious. Some have lost
it and became delirious.
I visualize George
Floyd handcuffed in the back on that cold ground. He pleads, “please
get your knee off of my neck, I can’t breathe”! Repeated
history in the 21st Century; “PTSD.” It’s hard to erase
our memories.
I totally relate, and
understand the pain. We’re afraid of the terrors, tired and feel
drained. Senator Cory Bookers’ voice rang. “We need transparency,
and change. My.people came over here in shackles and chains.” Yet
nothing has changed; it remains the same.
I need to feel safe
knowing that finally a data base has been implemented to weed the bad
police out, instead of tainting the investigations and giving the thugs
in Blue the utmost clout. Forgetting what the real cause is all about.
African Americans are
subjected to the harshest laws with mandatory minimums by design. The
color of my skin seems to be the only crime, racial profiling comes to “WHITE
SUPREMACIST MINDS.” Systemic racism need not go unchecked. The
U.S. has created a HUGE MESS!! We’re no strangers to pain my mind
can’t escape. My mentally ill son was killed by Police in the most
grotesque way on October 10, 2018; it was a sad day!
We’re incarcerated
and killed at alarming rates. I pray the anguish in my mind will one
day escape. If violence is not the answer then why do they anticipate,
on murdering people of color on a daily base? But it’s too late.
The people are woke and no longer sleep, our pillows are soaked, for
years we weeped.
What I need to know
is, what happened to the Emergency Response Persons Team? Is killing
Black mentally ill “the American Dream”? On the prowl to
snuff us out. Will it work, I highly doubt. Terrell had mental health
issues from a child. It was serious, not mild. Emotionally unbalanced
but also serene, dashed his hopes, destroyed dreams.
On the contrary, in
South Carolina, when Dylan ran full throttle in an African American Church
to commit a horrific hate crime based upon what he was taught. Cold bloodedly
killed preachers, teachers, and others he sought. Bragged and gave it
no second thought. A well put together hate crime was wrought. The young
white boy didn’t run, he wanted to get caught …
Shooting or killing
him wasn’t an option. When Police saw him at the scene they halted
and talked. Put on him a bullet proof vest, took him and bought him a
meal, while we are unjustly criminalized. Basically, this depraved indifference
young man was patted on the back and given a prize.
Unity, shame and fear
has moved in a few weeks what centuries couldn’t. Acknowledgment
is power; at first they wouldn’t. More importantly, I need President
Trump to cease from his incoherent, racist, psychotic tweets. He needs
to eat some humble pie and become meek. He’ll no longer be blind,
but will finally see.
Trump’s incompetent
leadership is clearly a joke. He had the audacity to call COVID-19 a
HOAX!! Unfortunately we lost about a hundred thousand folks. Just the
thought of Trump makes me wanna scream. Desecrating Holy Grounds to make
a low-rated movie scene! His main objective is to cause chaos, and never
speak facts. The U.S. President is mad whack to be exact.
He called the national
Guard to shoot rubber bullets at peaceful protestors, and tear gas. This
guy is simply out to lunch and has no class. I need Trump to never advise
Americans to drink bleach. What’s he think, he’s Hitler,
or Jim Jones? He really creeps me.
Forget the unconstitutional
policies and practices. We need solidarity, love and peace, and for the
police abuse to cease. So please stop the violence, don’t stab
and beat the police. Although some have no decency, morals and integrity.
They maced a nine year
old girl, and busted a 75 year old man’s head to the pavement.
It’s not even safe to protest in the 21st century without being
unwittingly put at harm. Two NYC Cops snatched a protestor’s mask
off of his face so they could spray him with mace. A female protestor
was punched in the face by police outside of the Barclay and was hospitalized
with a concussion. They really don’t care about heading for self
destruction.
Why can’t I exercise
my First Amendment Free Speech Right without fear of reprisal? In disbelief,
shock, and surprise; I mourn for those as well as myself who have been
victimized. By an all white jury, I was tried. Not one piece of evidence,
my rights were grossly denied. The key witness admitted on the stand
that he lied. Yet, still they convicted me and gave me 25 to Life.
I need to know when
you apologize, that it’s real so I can heal, and not feel afraid
that history will repeat itself. Meanwhile, I refuse to go back on your
whipping post, or get raped with my mouth closed. You got invited to
the show, and I’m the host. The topic is can’t you see, this
is the turn of history. “THE GIG IS UP IN 2020, and like thunder
we sing, “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! STOP RACIST POLICE!!” No
more broken promises; we demand accountability. Stop racially profiling
me!
Give us Equal Education,
without Voter Suppression, Abolish Massive Incarceration, and disinformation
on these Modern Day Plantations. Get rid of the on the low Police Brutality
Investigations. We need Reparations for the overdue pain and suffering.
I need Equality and
Justice for All.
Rest in Power: To My
Son Terrell Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Sandra
Bland, Freddy Gray, Eric Garner, 7 year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Mike
Brown, Stephon Clark, The Africas that were brutally murdered by Police,
and the list goes on....
R.I.P.
In 2020 by Reverend Joy Powell
REVEREND
JOY POWELL’S COMMENTS
ON THE LATEST POLICE BRUTALITY MURDER IN MINNEAPOLIS:
May 28, 2020
we live in a system
which blatantly displays White Justice, and Black laws, with random
killing of Black and Brown people based upon the color
of their skin.
Some of the issues
that Reverend Powell would address were, and still are, Substandard Housing
for poor people of color, Bleak Economic
Conditions,
Unequal Education, Police Brutality, and Massive Incarceration.
The ongoing
existing tensions of racial profiling puts a narrative in the minds
of people who already have preexisting biases. We have a U.S.
President
who openly boasts and acts like a White Supremacist.
Wherein, the world
is enraged after the traumatic news aired of an unarmed Black man named
George Floyd being brutally murdered by a Minneapolis
Officer named Derik Chauvin who strangled him to death as his knee
pressed
in this
unarmed victim’s neck while George was handcuffed on the ground.
This evil and diabolic
murderer didn’t treat George Floyd with
dignity and humanity as he cried for his mother and screamed, “I
CAN'T BREATHE!” As
usual the Police Department hired a Medical Examiner in an attempt
of thwarting the attention off of the perpetrator, onto the victim.
Putting out inaccurate,
unproven statements to place unproven assumptions in people’s
minds.
However, camera footage
actually reveals the glaring discrepancies unequivocally showing the
victim begging for air as Chauvin’s
knee was on George Floyd’s neck.
Thank God for the bystander’s
filming the arbitrary and capricious, cold callous Murder!!
And, where is the U.S. President? Oh yeah, he’s
hiding. And plotting to have the people smoked by the National
Guard due his own fears.