I am not Troy Davis

No, I am not Troy Davis because that will never happen to me

I am not Troy Davis.

I am the media

I am the “justice” system

I am the police

I am the prison guards

I am the governor of Georgia

I am the mother of the man Davis was accused of killing, who said it was unfair she had to wait so long for his death

I am not Oscar Grant, no

I am Johannes Mehserle

I am not 6% of the population of Wisconsin but 45% of the people in prison; no,
I am 86% of the population of Wisconsin and 43% of the people in prison

I am the cop pulling over the Black woman for driving at 3 am; I am the police arresting a Black man for trying to protect his daughter; I am the police officers killing a Black man the night before his wedding for being drunk

I am the white college student complaining about Black people in scholarship programs; I am the Center for Equal Opportunity telling white students they’re discriminated against

I am the neoliberal claiming to be colorblind; I am the white fans of The Help and The Blind Side

I am the mainstream LGB media highlighting white young people’s suicides; I am every white queer person equating their struggle with the Civil Rights Movement

I am the editors of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Glamour who lighten Beyonce’s skin; I am the makeup companies manufacturing skin-whitening cream; I am how easy it is to find hair products and salons

I am the face on every magazine, and the clerk following around the Black woman, and the grocery store checker talking shit about Black people on food stamps

I am privilege I am access I am power I am government I am business I am

not

Troy

Davis.