'Dear George': a poem
Krsna Mohnani is a fourth year medical student at UEA. She's also a poet. She writes to raise awareness of the most pressing issues facing society and, last month, wrote a poem to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. In response to the death of George Floyd she's written a new poem to draw attention to injustice, to the 'unfair treatment of George Floyd, and to every other unjust death within the Black community.'
Krsna said: 'What we can do is stand up, speak up and make sure our voices are heard in a non-violent way - use the strength of our voices and that of our words,' adding this quote from Angela Davis: “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
Dear George,
I am sorry.
I am sorry that you are no longer with us.
I am sorry that even on the ground, you were seen as a threat.
I am sorry that we failed you.
But
We can do better
And will do better
To wake up from the slumber of passivity
To give a voice, to those who had theirs taken away.
We can’t stay silent and we won’t stay silent
Because silence - is part of the problem.
So we must rise
For him, whose voice was taken,
Whose breath was cut short.
Let that breath be the fire in us all
To take action
For it is no longer an option
to stand by
to be still
to watch as evil triumphs,
Walks,
Kneels.
No.
For “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph
Is for good men to do nothing.”
Whatever colour you are - Don’t. Do. “Nothing”.
Be fierce, be kind, be aggressively vocal.
We can unite, we must unite, we must be loud
to drown out the evil sound
to instil sense in those who think this is still okay.
So that next time, there is no next time
for the unarmed innocent or the shots fired with such ease.
So that no mother
Ever
Has to hear those words again
“I can’t breathe”.
- June, 2020
Read more of Krsna's work on her Wordpress site and on Instragram.