A Twenty Dollar Bill

By Kenneth G. White Jr.

Who cares about justice?
My badge gives me the right to kill
Someone over a twenty-dollar bill

Who cares about compassion?
I will put my knee on his neck until he is still
Because of a twenty-dollar bill

Let me press a little harder
How does that feel
Put all my weight upon him
over a twenty-dollar bill

He is crying like a baby
But it ain’t real
I can’t breathe he’s lyin
Over a twenty dollar-bill

                                                                     Murder in broad daylight

It is kind of surreal
I am suffocating this guy in public
Over a twenty-dollar bil

The crowd around me will not break my will
I will choke him for
Nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds
Over a twenty-dollar bill

He is black I am white
My prejudice is real
It does not bother me to kill him
over a twenty-dollar bill

The EMT’s are here
But what the hell
He stopped breathing my mission is fulfilled
Over a twenty-dollar bill

                                                                                I am a racist

It is plain and simple
I intentionally killed an innocent man
Over a twenty-dollar bill

All of you can complain and cry 
There will be no justice or good will
Until America addresses the lesson
 of a twenty-dollar bill

Stand up against racism
Don’t be silent don’t be still
And say God bless you George Floyd

                                                            Every time you see a twenty-dollar bill