The smearing of Rachel Jeantel.  So why is the star witness in the George Zimmerman case being treated like a defendant?  -- Salon Magazine, article by MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS -- http://www.salon.com/

IRRITANT

Sister sits on a seat burning

like the bullet chiseled

into flesh her friend

will never scratch again.

She sits

as eyes scrutinize

and mouths criticize

the unwise of her language—

body and soul.

Embarrassed onlookers

cannot see around barriers

browbeaten by a defense

who intends to blur truth

with hours of demoralized indignation

reminiscent of a plantation

where an uneducated slave

resists while beaten by master’s hand.

Let us not forget the man who gives reason

for an unseasoned stubbornness to growl.

The man whose trigger finger

itches every time he plays cop.

No,

sister will not stop herself

from being herself.

Who is she?

Does someone say nigger?

Does someone say decision maker

will not take her seriously?

Does someone wish sister would contain

her spirit and manifest a better brain?

Does someone deny sister community

and immunity at a time like this?

A time when a last call recollection

haunts sister’s reflection about her friend’s

bitter end?

Yet most contend sister casts a shameful shadow

on a path too narrow for acceptance.

Hell, the color of crow is despised anyway.

Ask those who are itching to burn a cross

on our black behinds.

©2013 Cyd Charisse Fulton