BLACK LIVES MATTER

Hiatus Art Gallery’s “Amplified Voices” is a cultivation of pieces of the Black experience in the United States. It consists of art, poetry and photos that are geared to express Black emotions and voices. It also contains first-hand accounts of the protests following the murder of George Floyd. This is to amplify the words and experiences of BLACK LIVES.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was arrested by Minneapolis police officers. During his arrest, police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for nine minutes. During this time, Floyd repeated that he could not breathe and he would die. During his last breathe, he called out for his mother. This murder caused outrage across the nation and protests began. We seek justice and hope to save more Black men, women and children from police brutality and other racial disparities.

Black. Lives. Matter.

Tell me by The Wonder Zebra

Sandra Bland, Michael Brown,Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Akia Gurley, Tamir Rice,Freddie Grey, Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo, Kendra James,Alton Sterling, Philando Castile And Countless...Countless others

We say their names to remind us of our fallen brothers and sisters,never forgetting how cruel and unstable this world truly is

The Fear and Racism that has always plagued this nation has gone on for far too long

and yet even now as I recite this poem you better believe another Black family begins to mourn over the lost of one of their own

They say Racism is Dead and not Alive and that all of these police involved Murders of minority citizens are completely Justified, well I believe that to be contributed

But tell me how do you justify murdering a 17 year old Black boy for having skittles and an Arizona and wearing a hoody on his way home from the store?

Tell me How do you justify murdering a Black Father for selling cigarettes to make some extra change by using an illegal chokehold while hearing him utter his last words I Can't Breathe?

Tell me How do you justify a young Black man being transported in a police van for carrying what was said to have been an illegal switchblade dying from a spinal cord injury on his way to the station?

Tell me how do you justify a young Black woman who was an activist for African American rights after having been stopped for a traffic violation, was found hanging in the police station after a heated altercation between her and the officer who forcefully pulled her out of her vehicle and arrested her?

Tell me How do you justify shooting a Black man in his car with his Girlfriend and child inside even though he told you his firearm was legal?

Tell me How do you justify 20 shots penetrating Through the body of a Young Black Male from Sacramento California in his own backyard all because they couldn't tell the Difference between a crowbar and a cellphone?

Don't you dare tell me Racism is dead when you have the luxury of being able to walk down the street and not be profiled by police for the color of your skin or the clothes that cover your body and Feet?

Tell me when will it be safe for us to tell our children not to be afraid of going outside for fear that they might become the next lawfully excused homicide

Tell me...Just tell me when Dear God...
Will Racism and Prejudice Finally subside.

enough is Enough by Lyoness

The only shots Sean Bell wanted that night were the ones he ordered from the bar. Tamir Rice was just playing cops and robbers and instead the cops robbed him of his life. All Trayvon wanted were some snacks and instead he was attacked. Breonna Taylor was just trying to get some sleep. George Floyd had a knee pressed into his neck and now the world is being put in check. WE ARE TIRED!!!!  All of us. This whole country was built on looting. Museums filled with stolen artifacts. Africans were stolen so lazy colonizers could get free labor from them. So yea we are burning everything thing down. Peace doesn't translate to y'all at all. We place a threat to the world the minute we wake up. You can't even say they kill us like dogs because if any of this would have happened to a dog..... Man every single officer would be under the jail. I'm tired. I'm sick and tired of typing new hashtags. I'm tired of feeling fear when I see a police car. I'm tired but even moreso I'm pissed off. We are still marching for things that my grandmother was standing up for. The Last Poets said years ago that "Niggas are scared of revolution." Its time to prove them wrong. So this is NOT a poem. This is a battle cry. This is the war siren. This is the flaming arrow shot to signal the begin of the war. To all those who stand against us....We are Not our grandparents. We will fight back and we will fuck u up. This is not a race thing. This is a people thing. This is right vs wrong. This is good vs evil. There is no such thing as blue lives. Y'all decided to put that uniform on. I didn't decide to be black. No more sit ins. No more kneeling. No more table meetings. Stand up and flip the table over. The revolution Will be televised.

Enough is enough.