Baby, solidarity

The cop car slows down

and we both freeze

My baby pulls over

parks the car

puts his hands up

clutches the keys.

The officer says “Good evening,

How's your night going?”

oblivious 

to our shaking

My baby says politely 

“Very well sir”

while I wince

at the Native man

who looks like my uncle

in the back seat.

I’m not religious

but I pray to God

for the officer to let us go free

“Did you know your tail light’s burnt out?”

he asks,

“No sir, I didn’t” I reply,

“Do I owe you any fees?”

“No” the officer replies,

“Just get it checked out tomorrow”

We both breathe sighs of relief when he leaves.

My baby and I don’t use self-check-out

when we buy groceries

Because we’ve been chased down the street

told to give back what we haven’t paid for

experienced how degrading 

It is to dig a receipt

out of a trash can unclean.

No one had seen

us check out

meaning

they saw a Black man with a Native woman

And couldn’t help but assume

we must have been stealing.

I’m always proud to be with my baby

even when strangers 

threaten our safety

to the man

who referred to my man 

as a “******”

I hope you soon shift

your racist ideology

Because if everyone loved like my baby

then oppression

would cease to exist

and everyone could be set free.

As a mixed-race couple

I know

We can never count on

an unjust world

to make our struggles easy

But what we can count on 

is each other

and in our shared struggles

there is solidarity.