STATISTIC by Michelle Parkinson

In 1944
the lives of black boys
were worth nothing
and you were
no stranger to bloodshed
or the drives of men
in a Southern sawmill town

That Carolina dawn
came tender
and 2 white girls
raped and murdered
led to a black boy’s door

You were 14
no stranger to bloodshed
or the drives of men

In newspaper photos
eyes caved with wisdom
lips without question
a child resigned
to a man’s fate

In 1944 the
lives of black boys
were worth nothing
and George Stinney, Jr.
was given the chair

The youngest face
on Death Row
was dark
silent

Now the sons
he never fathered
learn his lesson well:
You are black and male
in america
You are never
too young to die…