Why Do You Write Poems When…with Andy Schoenborn April 17, 2024
Why Do You Write Poems When Ralph Yarl Was Shot Yesterday Just For Ringing The Wrong Doorbell?
Because Ralph is in critical condition and the world needs to know him. Ralph is in high school, a musician who plays the bass clarinet, loved, beloved older brother. Gentle band member. He’s 16, so a fairly newly-licensed driver, but an auto accident didn’t get him in trouble yesterday. He forgot his phone when he was sent to pick up his two young brothers from their friend’s house. Without the address, he accidentally went to the wrong house and rang the doorbell. A “scared” white man with a gun shot him in the head. (Why would a white man with a gun fear an unarmed teenager?) While Ralph was down, the white man went out and shot him again.
Why Do You Write Poems When Ralph Yarl Was Shot Yesterday Just For Ringing The Wrong Doorbell?
Because the person who shot Ralph walked out of the police station and went home, not charged with a crime. (Did I say that Ralph is in the hospital in critical condition?) Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson (prosecutor@claycopa.com) and law enforcement in Kansas City, Missouri, we’re talking to you: You need to hold your folks accountable for hatecrime hatred and attempted murder—because what else could have been the possible purpose for that second shot?
Why Do You Write Poems When Ralph Yarl Was Shot Yesterday Just For Ringing The Wrong Doorbell?
Because I am white, and my adult children and their partners are white, and my grandson is white. What kind of world is it where all of them as a group, or one at a time, could have rung that wrong doorbell in Kansas City and not have been shot? But a young Black man from his own town, just a few blocks from home, can’t? I write poems because I need to remember that my white privilege needs dismantling, disrobing, demolishing, destroying. I write poems because I can’t stand by and allow our nation to pretend that racism is in our past.
Denise, you bring a unified voice to raise awareness of this crime. It’s a sad day when a young kid gets shot by a “man” just for ringing a doorbell. This is probably the same kid who’d have stopped to help that man if he’d seen him
with a flat tire. The sad truth is that this is our nation today. I’m so glad you shared the story to raise awareness, and I love your repeating line and use of questions. Very effective. A post that needs far more eyes!