Donal Mahoney- A Poem

Ferguson in Black and White

Would the death in Ferguson 

have been as black and white

as many seem to think it is

if the victim had been 

white as anthrax,

and the shooter 

black as tar?

Would the aftermath 

have been the same?

Would Pastor Sharpton

have flown to Ferguson

to address the masses

while the President 

spoke gravely from afar?

Would businesses

have burned as bright 

long into the night while 

frozen cops watched?

I watched it on TV

with a cup of hot cocoa. 

I’m the one to ask.

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Donal Mahoney lives 20 minutes from Ferguson, Missouri. Unlike the speaker in “Ferguson in Black and White,” he doesn’t know what happened in the death of Michael Brown.