She stands in the shadows. Watching.
Watching as a Black man takes his last breath under the knee of a man who swore to protect and serve his community.
Another Black man is shot and killed by police.
Another life taken. Another mother’s child taken.
She stays in the shadows because she’s unable to move.
It feels like she’s in quicksand.
She can’t comprehend the injustice.
She’s never lived in that world.
This IS the world she lives in.
Enough watching.
She feels a need to make a change.
She feels a call to action.
To step out of the shadows.
It’s no longer time to watch.
It’s time to DO.
It’s time to unite…
our backyards.
our neighborhoods.
our communities.
our state and our nation.
It’s time to come out of the shadows.
It’s time for change; to support one another.
It’s time to unite humankind.
This poem is part of a series of first-person reflections our colleagues are sharing about George Floyd and the racial justice movement.
