For a mere
Three seconds
On camera,
Filmed in austere
Black and white,
You’d given the statement
Which caught me off-guard,
Spoken the words
I never heard
Any celebrity say:
“I stand against hate.”
That oath you’d made
For this little P.S.A.
Had the usual Hollywood
Polish and pretence
Missing from it.
It didn’t smack
Of someone gunning
for an Emmy nomination.
It didn’t smack
Of someone reading
Phrases from a teleprompter
Like a vapid TV news reporter.
It didn’t smack
Of someone auditioning
For some unspecified role.
Although you received far less
Screen-time than
“The A-list” types,
You sounded committed
To use your privilege to aid
A struggle without end
Where I’m the target.
The other big names and faces
Sounded more willing to save
Careers from ruin than showing up
Against organised violence.
Police terror is racial terror–
Given those circumstances,
I’m inclined to believe
A fitness personality
Over Pop singers and movie stars.
The advert you appeared in
Had proven to
Hinder more than help,
More performative than conducive
To a cause centuries-old,
A liberatory cause
Larger than us both–
You’d taken an oath.
So what happens next?
Will you stand
With my people
When White Supremacy
Moves in close
For the kill?
Will you stand
With families
Whose loved ones
Transformed into
Hashtags?
Will you rush
To my side
If acid tongues
Seared my honour,
Insulted my colour?
Would you fight
With the same
Conviction as you did
With fellow gymnasts, army of survivors, backing
A lecherous monster in doctor’s guise into a corner?
I’m not asking
To be saved.
I’m asking if I could count
On your support of
My besieged people.
Since the ancient
Southern slave revolts,
Africans were at the forefront
Resisting genocide,
Resisting criminalisation,
Our status as hated.
But it doesn’t
Hurt to have
A reliable ally
On one’s side.
And that lady
On the Silk
Organic soy milk
Unsweet carton
Might be a good one.
___________________
W: 6.26.2020
[For Aly Raisman.]