Law Abiding Criminal (Sequence II)

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I remember crawling out of the ocean
Self-awareness and emotion 

I remember the erosion
     Violently slow
     Like water corrosion
     No need for an explosion

I remember the erosion ...
Of
     Family
     Culture and Language
     Dignity
     Of ... Hope and Autonomy
          Trust in Humanity

I remember the commotion
     The dogs and the hoses
     The brutality
     Ash 
          From the burning crosses

Orchestrated hate
     Injected in overdoses
     Emanating 
          And central ... to everything
     
     Spectral

I remember holding onto the notion
Things will get better
They'll see me as Human
Deserving ... 
Of
     The same privileges
     The same resources
     The same access
     The same presumption of innocence

     The same ...
          The same ...

Still,
     I'm always under scrutiny      
     They clutch their purses
     Watch me with suspicion
     
     I wanna thrive
          But I'm only surviving
    
Alien
My colour sets me apart
Exposed to Oppression
     — Anger and Aggression
I'm falling apart

Being a law-abiding criminal 
Hurts my heart
     Heavy with history
     I carry centuries in my chest
     This ache is ancestral
     I cannot divest

In spite of it all
     I'm still trying my best