A Lament for Rayshard:
On His 29th Birthday
Rayshard Brooks was drunk
but he wasn’t hurting anyone.
Just fallen asleep in the Wendy’s drive-through
blocking folk
picking up their Baconators and frosties
But no one seemed to mind too much.
(This, was not a tragedy)
and folk just edged their cars around him
and let him sleep.
When the police arrived they were polite.
They knocked first
then opened his car door for the world to see
his gently snoring body
(It was not a tragedy)
If anything, it probably made us smile.
Just a sleepy man waking up-
confused, rubbing his eyes
and wondering where he was.
Sir, you’re blocking traffic — you have to move!
Rayshard looked embarrassed
and promptly complied.
(This, was not a tragedy).
Are you armed?
He said he was not
Have you been drinking?
He admitted he had.
So, perhaps a felony — (but not a tragedy).
Sir, please step out
Again, they asked nicely
and he complied, nicely
and for the next 20 minutes they stood together under the lights —
the nation holding its breath
as they spoke together — calmly, respectfully —
and then —
breathing a little more easily.
it looked like it was going to be Ok this time.
But then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
We all saw what happened next.
like a slow-moving train-wreck
the entire scene disintegrated before our eyes
and before we could stop it
and another black body lay dead.
(This — was not supposed to be a tragedy!)
Not this time.
There were no clear villains — this time
No one was hurting anyone
and it could have ended by calling Uber to take Rayshard safely home —
with a ticket no doubt
but why a bullet? why three bullets?
Why does history, with its gunny-sack of wild feral emotions
have to interrupt scenes like this?
Why is an Eternal Being be so quickly snuffed out?
(Why was this a tragedy?)
