Minnesota, A Motherhood Roars

Daunte Wright,

perhaps the previous night,

must have written a text message,

filled with youthful hope and excitement,

of looking forward,

to a time when COVID-19 is gone,

to a day enjoying a ride,

to a future when the DMV will open,

In a car whose tags had expired,

this fond son met his death,

this car at one time,

could have been,

 a kitchen table pep-talk subject,

a mother giving the talk,

policing; use of brutal force and race,

Kimberley Potter,

another mother,

a well trained Police officer,

could not tell which side,

the gun or taser was pouched,

nor tell the feel of the gun grip, 

police-work due diligence aside,

after all this is a Black driver,

half the work is done by gunning,

then contemplate or ask questions later,

and so in that tradition.

a 20 year old Black male is gunned down,

by a 26 year veteran of the Police,

dedicated and loyal to the force,

a member of an honor guard,

the quintessential law enforcer,

'accidentally discharged a fire-arm,'

and Daunte Wright was dispatched,

to a place where he can't breathe,

the Wright family mourns a deceased son,

motherhood celebrates nurturing not rapturing,

one mother knows so well her children,

may never meet a demise like this,

of over processing,

of over policing,

or living in an area,

with hair-thin chances 

of snapping one's breathe,

at the hands of Police,

For another mother it is different,

her children have that hair-thin chance,

of being shot fatally by police,

if Black families give the talk,

if only White Police officers do the walk,

implicit-bias or discrete de-escalation?