As Trayvon would have turned 23 today, we remember that fateful day his life was cut short by racial injustice in a supposedly free world. A poem tribute by Faustina Anyanwu.

He’s Just a boy with a hood over his head.

He’s just a boy
Full of life
He loved his life
He’s just a teen
Full of love and joy
His eyes bright with stars
Looking ahead with hope for the miles
He’s just a boy with the hood not a gun.

In cold blood he lost it all
For a sin he knew nothing about
Just like everyone else he walked the street
Only with skittles in his pocket not a gun.
Just like any other kid, full of life.
He had his hood on, bought from the shops
Designed by a big name somewhere famous and rich
But He’s just a boy who had to die.

In cold blood he lost his life
For looking who he is and not who he ought to be
In cold blood he lost his life
To a nation where he had every dream to live for
In cold blood he lost his life
The dreams dashed and gone with it
In cold blood he lost his life
To a law without regard to his life.
In cold blood he lost his life
And the law has a short hand to hold him up

In cold blood he lost his life
Like any other day, the world moves on
In cold blood he lost his life
Forever leaving his family empty and broken
In cold blood he lost his life
Because he’s Black.

But Trayvon was just a boy with a hood over his head not a gun.

© Faustina Anyanwu 14th July 2013.

Note
Sometimes we question what the law is for.
So many times we don’t get the answers. Just like today, we didn’t get it. But a boy is gone in a senseless way and no one is brought to book.
We must keep calm but yet speak out against the injustice.
I have used both present and past tenses together in some way to show that Trayvon lives on will continue to live.
I don’t know him in person but I can feel the pain of his mother. If he was my son what would I do. It doesn’t matter what color he is. What’s important is justice for those who are victims.
Can there ever be true peace, love and justice in this world?
One love with much pain in my Black heart in the 21st Century.
Faustina Anyanwu
@fauntee.