In Our Defense

a poem for Keith Porter, Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Victor Manuel Diaz, Parady La,Luis Beltran Yanez–Cruz, Heber Sanchez Dominguez, and Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres

In our defense, he began to act erratically
when we blinded and beat him and decided
to shoot him face-down in the street

In our defense, she was reaching for something in the glovebox,
common ground, perhaps, or clarity on conflicting
orders, or her belief that no one should die this way

In our defense, he didn’t disclose he had a heart condition
after we dragged him to a black site
and used everything we know to break him

In our defense, she was a terrorist,
or she knew one, maybe, but what we know for sure is
she chose the wrong day to make us feel small and afraid

In our defense, our only mistake was murdering someone
whose skin color was supposed to
keep them safe

In our defense, he threatened us
with his complexion, his conviction that his life or death
should matter as much as a white martyr’s

In our defense, the autopsy proved this:
they all died dreaming
of a world without pepper spray and night raids,
a world better than the one that killed them

In our defense, it was always about the power
to say the quiet part loud, to hurt you, to kill you,
to tell you you deserved it, to decide who
—whose body, whose skin, whose life, whose story—
is worth defending

Short story written by Peter Chiykowski

Story prompt taken from a photo by Chad Davis