WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
Matchsticks and matches.
Candlesticks and crosses.
Coffins stack up while
Communities total their losses.
And to my people who are
The color of my skin:I don’t know where or
How we should begin.
We watch as the flamz
Begin to singe.
And this candle burnz…
It burnz from both endz.
LA, Chicago, & NYPD: 12, 16, 41, 50 shots!
Ebonic triggers just outside a neighborhood steeple
Held by Carter G. Woodson People
Fling
Intended and unintended bullets that
Scream
“Forget You!”
As they pierce our black skin.
And spitting cartridges leave evidence
That this candle still burnz…
It burnz from both endz.
From the church to the club;
Wealthy or poor; there’s no distinction.
People like us are headed for extinction.
And if I only had one prayer,
It would be “Lord forgive me for my sinz
And blow out this candle that burnz…
It burnz from both endz.
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
Sean Bell, Malice Green!
Medgar Evers; and Martin Luther King!
Betty Shabazz, Kathryn Johnston!
Latasha Harlan; and Alberta Williams King!
Tupac Shakur and Nipsey Hussle stand guard
At the tomb of “The Unknown Souljah.”
Mothers who weep for your children,
I wish I could hold yah.
Victims and perpetrators
Are accused of the same crime.
Generations incarcerated everyday
Say, “The guilty and innocent
Are both doing time.”
And to my people who are
The color of my skin:
Sometimes I wonder
If we’ll ever win.
We watch as the flamz
Begin to singe
And this candle still burnz…
It burnz from both endz.
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
Malcolm X and
Omar J. Edwards in Harlem!
Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke,
And Yutunde Price in L.A.!
Huey P. Newton and
Oscar Grant in Oakland, California!
Steven Johns in Washington, D.C.!
Steve McNair in Tennessee!
Renisha McBride in Detroit!
Derrion Albert, Hadiya Pendleton,
Bettie Jones, Laquan McDonald and
13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago!
12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio!
15-year-old Jordan Edwards in Dallas, Texas!
16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
Treyvon Martin and
Jordan Davis in Florida!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
Jonathan Ferrell, Keith Lamont Scott, and
Little Shaniya Davis in North Carolina!
Andrew Brown Jr. in
Elizabeth City, North Carolina!
Walter Scott and
The Emanuel 9 in South Carolina?
We watch as the flamz
Begin to singe..
And this candle burnz…
It burnz from both endz!
Freddie Gray in Baltimore!
Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge!
John Crawford III in Wal-Mart!
Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma!
Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota!
Sandra Bland in Waller County, Texas!
Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky!
Rayshard Brooks outside of Wendy’s
In Atlanta, Georgia!
Michael Brown in the street
In Ferguson, Missouri!
Akai Gurley in Brooklyn, New York!
Eric Gardner on Staten Island!
Daunte Wright in
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota!
George Floyd outside of Cup Foods
In Minneapolis!
And if I only had one prayer,
It would be “Lord forgive us for our sinz…
And blow out this candle that burnz…
It burnz from both endz.”
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOSPH!
WOOOOOOSHIP!!!!!!
I!!!! CAN’T!!!!! BREATHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Anthony Neal ©2007
Revisions & Updates:
2009©
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2021©
Anthony Neal earned his Ph.D. in political science at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). Dr. Neal is an associate professor at State University College, Buffalo. The author of numerous book reviews and journal articles, he has had his work published in the Western Journal of Black Studies, the Journal of Black Studies, and Black Issues in Higher Education. In 2014 Dr. Neal received the university’s Faculty Appreciation Award, was named Instructor of the Year by the university’s United Student Government, and Professor of the Year by the Student Political Society in the Department of Political Science.
