Break The Silence by Njabulo N.

Police Brutality

Police brutality is a disaster. It’s quite unbearable to watch the ones we entrust with our lives and protection evolve into civil nightmares and agents of dismay.

Sometimes it seems that people do not have rights anymore. While there are global protests against police brutality, little is done by government institutions to address the situation.

Thabani Nkomonye is Swati aspiring to be a lawyer. He was killed by the cops. The police issued a notice asking the public to assist in finding Thabani who was last seen a few days back.

When Thabani’s family asked about the whereabouts of his car, the Station Commander of Sigodvweni Police station denied that the car was on the station premises whereas it was there. The car was found to have crashed and with a bullet hole. That’s when the citizen decided to take the protests into the streets.

My friend Njabulo takes on this piece he captioned Break the Silence. This came after my post on Speaking Up for people’s rights.

BREAK THE SILENCE

I can’t be silent anymore,
Allow me to speak,
What my heart feels,
What my eyes see,
What my ears hear,
What my nose smells.
Yesterday it was the I can’t breathe movement worldwide,
Today it is justice for Thabani nationwide,
Tomorrow it might be me, a relative, or a friend.
Police are just cold-blooded murderers in uniform.
Claiming to serve the citizen’s interests,
Affirming to be protecting the residents,
While killing them, not even by accident.

Does the law choose colors now?
Does it have ears and eyes somehow?
Is this like the animal farm now?
Where animals are equal but some are superior to others?
Why some can dodge the law?
Still wandering the streets like everything is normal.
Not facing consequences of their actions,
But getting transferred to kill more people.

I can’t be silent anymore,
My tears can drown a ship in an ocean,
My heart is stronger than that of a Gorilla,
My body is hard like that of a Godzilla,
What’s the difference between police and a guerrilla?
They are not protecting us anymore,
They are no longer the nation’s umbrella,
I can’t be silent anymore,
I can shout all day that a police officer is a killer,
They are carnivorous, preying on small insects such as flies and psylla.
And those are my people for God’s sake.

I can’t keep silent about this anymore,
I can’t stand seeing my people shed a tear,
As a result of police brutality,
I can’t pretend to have a good relationship with police,
While they are busy shooting at my people,
I fail to fake a smile considering their inhumane behaviors,
Discharging bullets on us,
Gunning us with toxic teargas.

Abducting, arresting, assaulting, and torturing us,
Won’t bring forth what we are waiting for, the answers,
Won’t give us what we are protesting for, justice.
Instead, it is like pouring more gasoline on the flame,
Brushing more salt on the bleeding and hurting wound.

They made us believe that we were living peacefully,
People were just scared to retaliate,
They made us believe that we were respectful,
We are treated like tenants on our lands,
We were just oppressed by the oppressor.
Imagine being a civilian but not having freedom of expression,
Imagine living in a peaceful country where there is no freedom of speech,
Imagine living in a country where the government doesn’t about its people.

We have had enough, we are tired of this regime,
We are cutting ties,
We can’t watch you killing us anymore,
I’m more than just a comrade but a protester,
I’m not a politician but a revolutionist,
I can’t keep quiet anymore,
I really can’t be controlled by killers and oppressors.
Our voices together as a nation,
Can’t be silenced.

#ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY
#JUSTICEFORTHABANI
#ENDGENDERBASEDVIOLENCE
#EMASWATILIVESMATTER