Say his name: GEORGE FLOYD
A poem by Yvonne Tagoe tells of her anger following another killing of Black man by police
Handcuffed and harmless
He lies on the ground
A Black man in pain
A white man’s knee
Pins him down by the neck
With the audacity of a slave master Kneeling on the neck of his Mandingo slave
But this is no slave
This is George Floyd
A strong Black man
Reduced to a subhuman
His primal screams echo into the void Many times he says I can’t breathe The white man in blue Resolute in his purpose
Keeps his knee in place
To him this is just another wretched Black life
But no, this is a man, a son, a father, a brother, an uncle
Tick tock tick tock Countdown to death
George calls his Mama twice
She’s been dead for two years
He says his stomach hurts
Everything hurts
I can’t breathe
They’re going to kill me Bystanders scream and plead
He’s bleeding from the nose You’re going to kill him
But the man in blue kneeled with no emotion
Only cold and steely determination To snuff out a Black life
To strip a man of his dignity, his humanity, his life
George goes silent
The pained look is gone
He looks peaceful
As if asleep
Bystanders scream
He’s not moving
Two minutes and 53 seconds pass The white man in blue steps back The ambulance takes George’s limp body away
Horror
A harmless, compliant Black man A fellow human being
Has transitioned from life to death Before our very eyes
Gone in eight minutes and 46 seconds Murdered on a quiet Memorial Day By a white man in blue
His uniform of law and order
A tool of power, authority, and brutality On a quiet spring day in America Another Black life is taken
By a white man in blue
With the audacity of a slave master Rage
Yvonne Tagoe moved from Ghana in June 1990 to Kitchener-Waterloo, where she lived and raised a family for 20 years. She is a former member of the Community Editorial Board at The Record. Yvonne worked as a journalist in the Middle East for 10 years and currently resides in Toronto.