A/n this is a rewritten version of my last poem, "drowning", but this time in Starr Carter's voice. She's a character from The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and the fictional book is primarily centered around racism. At the beginning of the novel, Starr watches as her best friend, Khalil, is murdered as a result of police brutality.

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I am nothing.

Nothing, in this vast sea of ignorance.

Nothing but a silenced brown-skinned girl

With the flash of crimson

Splattered across her vision.

I imagine the blood filling his lungs as he gasps and heaves

His nose burning,

Neck straining,

Chest muscles fighting to keep him alive.

Hopeless bubbles emerge from his fruitless attempt to save himself-

As they float tantalizingly high,

Higher than the red-streaked hand

clutching that goddamn hairbrush-

Could ever reach.

I am nothing but a tearstained observer.