This Spoken word piece was inspired by watching the TV news with my aunt Shirley. Shout-out to Evelyn from the Internets, because I’m calling in Black tomorrow. 

Audience/Reader:  Hum, snap, step, clap, sing ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ 

Newsflash at dawn:  

After several overnight reports of disturbances,  

Police are on the lookout this morning for a smart negro male,  

Accused of bringing up racism and angering the masses. 

The suspect is considered armed with intelligence, 

and other deadly weapons such as pen and paper. 

Bang! 
 

9 0’clock morning News:  

Police are on the lookout for a smart negro male,  

Accused of bringing up racism and angering the masses. 

Suspect is considered armed with intelligence and other deadly weapons. 

The public is advised NOT to approach the suspect, 

And notify authorities immediately… 

Immediately… 

So he can be shot. 

Bang! 

Bang!

News at noon. 

Police are on the lookout for a smart negro male,  

Accused of bringing up racism and angering the masses. 

This station has obtained exclusive video of today’s deadly police shooting captured by a member of the public. 

This exclusive footage posted to social media shows the suspect reading a book on colonization, before advising authorities who responded immediately… 

When authorities arrived, 

Suspect was found holding a book,  

Defacing it with pens and markers as officers approached. 

This exclusive video captured by several members of the public shows suspect refusing the officers’ orders to release the book. 

Suspect is seen raising the book,  

At which point officers fired 32 shots,  

Twelve of which landed in the suspect’s head. 

After anti-terrorist units spent several hours clearing the area of any potential radical activity, 

Emergency services were allowed on the scene at which point the suspect was pronounced dead. 

Bang! Bang! 

Bang! 

Evening news flash: 

This station has new, exclusive CCTV footage from the Central Library where the suspect loitered for several hours. 

The suspect is captured on several different cameras,  

And can even be seen interacting with several members of the public. 

An anonymous informant who works for the library claims that the suspect left several notes in the suggestion box, demanding the library, quote:  

“…rectify the deafening void of Black autobiographies in the library’s Great American biographies collection.” 

The anonymous library informant said that the suspect always sat at the same table near the ‘African-American literature’ section, 

And had been seen furiously taking notes while going through stacks of books. 

The anonymous informant says that the library received  

“Several complaints about these disturbances.” 

None of the complainants ever went on record. 
 

News at 5! 

This station’s investigations have also uncovered the Central library’s exclusive files on the suspect. 

The suspect joined the library on September 11th of 1984 under a student account and a different name. That’s right. 

We’ve obtained an exclusive ‘News at 5’ interview with the suspect’s fourth-grade teacher who initially helped the suspect set-up the library account.  

The teacher describes the suspect as quote disruptive and “radical to the core,”  

The teacher claims that during a history lesson, the suspect once referred to this nation’s founding fathers as “Unpatriotic, patriarchal, racist oligarchs with a God complex.” 

Indeed, this suspect has a pattern of radical, anti-American sentiments. 
 

While these troubling incidents were well before the terrible radical Islamic attacks of 9-11,  

The pattern suggests early radicalization! 

Authorities are still trying to understand why the suspect checked out a Koran, 

And other books on Islam, 

Just days after those terrible, Islamic attacks. 

The suspect visited the library regularly and checked out biographies of other known negro Muslim radicals such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. 

Experts believe that reading these texts lead to the suspect’s radicalization. 

From 2006 to 2007,  

The suspect checked out every collection of essays by James Baldwin. 

This triggered the FBI’s terrorist watch protocols. 
 

Nightly news flash: 

New evidence has surfaced regarding today’s tragic case of domestic terrorism. 

Authorities have found that the suspect was quote very active  

In the known radical hate group Black-and-Proud. 

Our investigative reporters have uncovered proof that  

The suspect was a key member of this radical hate-group. 

Apparently, authorities had infiltrated Black-and-Proud’s on-line forum as early as 2006. 

An anonymous police informant closely tied to the case believes that the suspect may have worked within an organized cell within Black-and-Proud. 

Authorities are not calling it a terrorist plot,  

But are calling on the public for any leads. 

This station has obtained exclusive footage of Black-and-proud operatives conducting an indoctrination program for kids as young as five. 

In this newly obtained footage from Black-and-Proud’s own website,  

The suspect can be seen reading portions of the autobiography of Malcolm X to what looks like a negro kindergarten class.  

Authorities are calling it a justified homicide. 

Case closed. 

—

Photo credit:

The most powerful art from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, three years in

Washington Post, July 2016