Something in the Water | By Megan Rickman Blackwood

1860 middle passage 

Human traffickers selected the largest captive 

The broadest shoulders 

The ones who carried the most defiance in their eyes 

They chucked them over the side of the ship into shark infested seas

Far from shore

Sure the body would make the biggest splash

The best impression on their prisoners 

Protest will not be tolerated here

There is something in the water 

August 28, 1955 Money, Mississippi

For no other crime than being black and existing

They snatched young Emmett from his bed

Dead of darkness like a nightmare 

Beat his small body until it best resembles a monster worthy of their misplaced fear

Cotton gin noosed around neck

They left him drowning

Praying his people's pride

Their hope for justice or something better would bury in the silt beside their sins

America there is something in the water

2005 9th Ward New Orleans

Rooftops transformed into life rafts

For those lucky enough to escape the tide that swallowed their city

Their neighbors bloated and lifeless

Floated for 72 hours without rescue

Louisiana stewed

Like these deaths didn't matter

Like Black lives didn't matter

There is something in the water

Flint Michigan, 2015 

Take a drink, Have a glass

Doesn't this taste strange to you?

Doesn't this taste like strange fruit?

America will you pay attention now

That they figured out how to drown brown bodies on dry land

Do you understand 

There is something in the water