Déjà Vu Telling Me We Still Have a Lot of Work to Do

". . . this recent/ bit of déjà vu/ tells me/ that if We the People/ are ever to become our better selves,/ aka civil beings,/ we still have a lot of work to do." by Ernie McCray

I see on my TV
a man
being slammed to the ground
by masked
Customs and Border Protection Agents
like a running back
trapped
in a blitz
and then
he’s pummeled
more than a few times
and I’m wondering,
for the whole time:
“What’s up with this?”
I mean as an example of masterful ass kicking,
this would be high on the list
and then I find out that this man,
whose humanity was
being so recklessly and cruelly dismissed,
was an undocumented immigrant
and now all of a sudden
I’m highly pissed
as this was way too much déjà vu
for me to deal with,
especially when these CBP thugs
went on to excuse
their abuse of this Proud Brown man
by accusing him
of swinging a weed whacker at them,
a tool he uses everyday
to do a bit of gardening
for his pay.
 
In these moments
I see my hapless brotha Rodney King,
somewhat back in the day,
in a similar situation,
after being stopped for a traffic violation,
all balled up on the ground
being kicked and stomped
and pounded by police batons,
the reason
said to be that he
had assaulted his assailants
with his car,
which was considered a deadly weapon.
 
And, I say,
even if
the law enforcers’ accusations
are verifiably okay,
when an individual ceases to be a physical threat
in any way,
roughing him up
should no longer be in play
in any way.
 
And this recent
bit of déjà vu
tells me
that if We the People
are ever to become our better selves,
aka civil beings,
we still have a lot of work to do.

Ernie McCray is an activist for love and peace who acts and sings and writes both poetry and prose, a man who rises each day to do whatever he can, no matter how small or grand, to make the world better in some way.

Unapologetically.