Holding Space

If They Call Me a Domestic Terrorist

by Michael DuBois

If they gun me down

in my own street someday

may my crime be compassion.

May the record show

from every angle

that I was helping a woman up

after they pushed her to the ground,

that not even their weapons

could stop me from

extending my hand to those in need,

that I was a walking example

of the best my elders taught me --

that everyone is equal

and worthy of defending.

If they tell the nation,

from the highest podium,

that I was a domestic terrorist,

let it be known that my radical act

was believing the best in people

when they wanted nothing more

than to divide us.