The flashes, a siren, a stretched-out roar—and you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description.
Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. I must have been speeding. No, you weren’t speeding. I wasn’t speeding? You didn’t do anything wrong. Then why are you pulling me over? Why am I pulled over? Put your hands where they can be seen. Put your hands in the air. Put your hands up.
Then you are stretched out on the hood. Then cuffed. Get on the ground now.
Each time it begins in the same way, it doesn’t begin the same way, each time it begins it’s the same. Flashes, a siren, the stretched-out roar—
Maybe because home was a hood the officer could not afford, not that a reason was needed, I was pulled out of my vehicle a block from my door, handcuffed and pushed into the police vehicle’s backseat, the officer’s knee pressing into my collarbone, the officer’s warm breath vacating a face creased into the smile of its own private joke.
Each time it begins in the same way, it doesn’t begin the same way, each time it begins it’s the same.
Go ahead hit me motherfucker fled my lips and the officer did not need to hit me, the officer did not need anything from me except the look on my face on the drive across town. You can’t drive yourself sane. You are not insane. Our motion is wearing you out. You are not the guy.
Sunt luces, acutus sonitus, gemitus extentus—tu non es quidem iste quaerendus sed vultus est similis, quod satis est unum habere omnium vultum.
Te demitte. Nunc te demitte. Necesse est me celerius movere. Non celeriter moves. Non celerius moveo? Nihil iniuste agis. Qua de causa me vexas? Cur vexar? Fac ut tuae manus possint videri. Pone ad caelum tuas manus. Pone sursum tuas manus.
Tum ad vehiculum pressus vinceris. Nunc te demitte.
Res eodem modo incipit cum non eodem modo incipiat; res eodem modo incipit cum incipit. Sunt luces, acutus sonitus, gemitus extentus—
Cum causa non opus sit, fortasse quod mea villa nimium est sumptuosa proximus ianuae vehiculo mei extrahor, vincior et adducor ad vehiculum eius, genu ad iugulum presso, anima expulsa ex ore quod ridet tecti ludi causa.
Res eodem modo incipit cum non eodem modo incipiat; res eodem modo incipit cum incipit.
Opto ut me petas, inquam, cinaede, sed me petere non opus est. Opus est nihil si me eunte meus vultus videtur. Firmum te non potes ducere cum duces tuam animam conterant. Tu non es quidem iste.
Mahogany best wishes to herself: The foremost thing is that you meditate on your breath. You’re allowed to float with light hands—do not thrash, when little fish delay you.
Mahogany best wishes to herself: You make the day most beautiful when smiling; do it often.
Mahogany best wishes to New York: You made this Californian woman fear others; I have learned from you not to look at strangers, not to touch, to speak, to smile.
Mahogany best wishes to her daughter: I fear that you are not safe; I pray that however the sun rises, so do you; may you understand that I work to my bones for you.
Mahogany best wishes to a girl: We deceive hope, of course when men mold us who have broken us with promises.
Mahogany best wishes to a girl: Take back the reckoning: some women break the spirit of good men.
I would like to say Rest in Peace to Michael Brown, who will never get to see the next phase of his life. I would like to give all thoughts and prayers to the people who are out there peacefully protesting. I also give thoughts and prayers for the people who could not hold their anger in, because riots are only the language of the unheard.
We usually come on to Queen’s “Champion.” I’ve got to tell you today that no matter how much we do it, no matter how much we get shit together, shit comes along that kicks you on your ass so you don’t feel like a champion. Tonight, I got kicked on my ass when I listened to that prosecutor. I’m going to tell them: You motherfuckers got me today. I knew it was coming. I knew it when Eric Holder decided to resign. I knew it wasn’t going to be good. I’ve got to tell: You motherfuckers got me today. You kicked me on my ass today, because I have a twenty year old son, I have a twelve year old son, and I’m so afraid for them.
When I stood on the bus and I cried and I hugged my friend, and he came and he hugged me right there—I said: These motherfuckers got me today. When I stood in front of my wife and I hugged her, and I cried like a baby—I said: These motherfuckers got me today.
But with that say: You motherfuckers will not own tomorrow. We will not live in your fear, we will not accept your cages, we are not going to keep playing that race card because we know you don’t value my skin. We know you do value his, but you know what? We’re friends and nothing is going to devalue that… .
I can promise you today: If I die when I walk off this stage tomorrow, I’m going to let you know this. It is not about race. It is not about class. It is not about color. It is about what they killed him for.
It is about poverty. It is about greed. And it is about a war machine. It is about a war machine that uses you as a battery. I might go tomorrow. I might go the day after. But the one thing I want you to know: It is us against the motherfucking machine.
Valete inquam puero Michael Brown qui aetatem proximam gerere non potest, hominibus qui in turba congressi recusant quominus se per iram agant, qui quoque incensi ira violenter urbem turbant, cum turba sit verba neglectorum.
Quamvis saepe ineamus per Reginae “Victorem,” quanto laboremus, res publicas ducamus, tanto in humum deicimur ut videamur non victores. Hodie causa dicta deiectus sum. “Vos,” inquam, “cinaedi me hodie deiciunt.” Intellexi rem fore adversum cum Eric Holder munum deposuisset; intellexi rem fore peius. Mihi est opus dicere: Vos cinaedi me hodie deiciunt. Vos in humum me hodie deiciunt quod mihi est alter filius viginti annos natus, alter duodecim annos natus, et utrius iniurias tantas metuo.
Cum coram complectus amicum stabam qui etiam me complectebatur, “Isti,” inquam, “cinaedi me hodie deiciunt.” Cum pro coniungem stabam eam complectus lacrimis tantis effusis ut viderer infans, “Isti,” inquam, “cinaedi me hodie deiciunt.”
Sed etiam dicete vobis cinaedis crastinas res fore non secundas. Nolumus vos metuere, vestrum laqueos accipere, colorem corporum referre, quod vos nostra corpora non cara existimatis, et corpore illius caro, quid magnam vim habeat, ille est amicus mihi… .
Hodie polliceor me, etsi cras mortuus proscaenio exeam, haec admirmaturum: genus, ordinem pecuniarium, colorem nihil referre, sed solum reffere quid illum puerum interficiant.
Puerum interfecerunt pro paupertate, pro avaritia, pro rebus militaribus quibus opus est vires nostri. Si cras obeam, perendie obeam, hoc tamen debetis intellegere: nobis iniuriam esse semper certandam. Sic semper tyrannis.
-
I say goodbye to the boy Michael Brown who is unable to bear the next phase of life, to the men who, having gathered in a crowd, refuse to conduct themselves in anger, and even those who, burning with rage, violently agitate the city, since a crowd is the words of the overlooked.
Although we often come on during Queen’s “Victor,” for as much as we work, as much as we lead public affairs, by that much we are knocked to the ground so that we do not seem like victors. Today after hearing the case I was knocked down. I said, “You motherfuckers knock me down today.” I understood that the matter would be regressive when Eric Holder resigned from office; I understood that the matter would be worse. For me there is need to say: You motherfuckers knock me down today. You knock me to the ground today because I have one son twenty-years old, another twelve years old, and I fear such great injuries against both.
When I was standing in public having embraced my friend who also was embracing me, I said, “Those motherfuckers knock me down today.” When I was standing before my wife having embraced her with such tears pouring out that I seemed like a child, I said “Those motherfuckers knock me down today.”
But also say that the affairs of tomorrow will not be favorable for you motherfuckers. We refuse to fear you, to accept your nooses, to refer to the color of our bodies, because you do not judge our bodies as valuable, and although his body is valuable, what holds the greatest power, he is a friend to me … .
Today I promise that, even if I go off this stage having died, I would affirm these things: tat tribe, monetary class, and color do not matter, but it only matters why they killed that boy.
They killed the boy for poverty, for greed, for military affairs that need our strength. If I die tomorrow, the day after, nevertheless you ought to understand this: that we must always combat injury. Thus always to tyrants.
The flashes, a siren, a stretched-out roar—and you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description.
Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. I must have been speeding. No, you weren’t speeding. I wasn’t speeding? You didn’t do anything wrong. Then why are you pulling me over? Why am I pulled over? Put your hands where they can be seen. Put your hands in the air. Put your hands up.
Then you are stretched out on the hood. Then cuffed. Get on the ground now.
Each time it begins in the same way, it doesn’t begin the same way, each time it begins it’s the same. Flashes, a siren, the stretched-out roar—
Maybe because home was a hood the officer could not afford, not that a reason was needed, I was pulled out of my vehicle a block from my door, handcuffed and pushed into the police vehicle’s backseat, the officer’s knee pressing into my collarbone, the officer’s warm breath vacating a face creased into the smile of its own private joke.
Each time it begins in the same way, it doesn’t begin the same way, each time it begins it’s the same.
Go ahead hit me motherfucker fled my lips and the officer did not need to hit me, the officer did not need anything from me except the look on my face on the drive across town. You can’t drive yourself sane. You are not insane. Our motion is wearing you out. You are not the guy.
Sunt luces, acutus sonitus, gemitus extentus—tu non es quidem iste quaerendus sed vultus est similis, quod satis est unum habere omnium vultum.
Te demitte. Nunc te demitte. Necesse est me celerius movere. Non celeriter moves. Non celerius moveo? Nihil iniuste agis. Qua de causa me vexas? Cur vexar? Fac ut tuae manus possint videri. Pone ad caelum tuas manus. Pone sursum tuas manus.
Tum ad vehiculum pressus vinceris. Nunc te demitte.
Res eodem modo incipit cum non eodem modo incipiat; res eodem modo incipit cum incipit. Sunt luces, acutus sonitus, gemitus extentus—
Cum causa non opus sit, fortasse quod mea villa nimium est sumptuosa proximus ianuae vehiculo mei extrahor, vincior et adducor ad vehiculum eius, genu ad iugulum presso, anima expulsa ex ore quod ridet tecti ludi causa.
Res eodem modo incipit cum non eodem modo incipiat; res eodem modo incipit cum incipit.
Opto ut me petas, inquam, cinaede, sed me petere non opus est. Opus est nihil si me eunte meus vultus videtur. Firmum te non potes ducere cum duces tuam animam conterant. Tu non es quidem iste.
-
There are lights, a high-pitched sound, a drawn-out groan—you are not even that man who must be sought but your appearance is similar, because it is enough that one man have the appearance of all.
Drop down. Drop down now. It must be that I move rather quickly. You do not move quickly. I do not move rather quickly? You do nothing unjustly. For what reason do you harass me? Why am I harassed? Make that your hands are able to be seen. Put your hands to the sky. Put your hands up.
Then pressed to the vehicle you are fettered. Drop down now.
The thing begins the same way although it begins not the same way; the thing begins the same way when it begins. There are lights, a high-pitched sound, a drawn-out groan—
Although there is no need for a reason, perhaps because my house is too expensive I am dragged out of my vehicle so near to my door, I am fettered and I am led to his vehicle, his knee pressed to my collarbone, his breath exhaled from a mouth that smiles for the reason of a hidden game.
The thing begins the same way although it begins not the same way; the thing begins the same way when it begins.
I want you to attack me, I say, motherfucker, but there is no need to attack me. The need is nothing if my appearance is seen while I am going. You cannot lead yourself healthy when your leaders wear out your spirit. You are not even that man.
