The death of Ahmaud Arbery — a 25-year-old unarmed black man who was shot and killed in February while out jogging in Glynn County, Ga. — has sparked a national outcry.
There's been heartbreak and outrage since a video, which appeared to capture Arbery's Feb. 23 death surfaced; two white men have been arrested and charged with his murder. People are trying to make sense of what happened, how it happened and why it happened. NPR's resident poet Kwame Alexander and Morning Edition's Rachel Martin suggest trying through poetry.
"Like most human beings, I find myself drowning in anger, anxiety, fear and still more anger," Alexander said. "And as an American, I see the murder of African American boys as a disease that America cannot seem to cure."
Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown also reflected on the news surrounding Arbery's death in his poem, "Bullet Points."
Join in by sharing a poem that helps shine a light on what's been going on in our country, that helps push us towards change and explores what's to come: chaos or community.
Alexander will then create a crowdsourced poem using lines from submissions. He and Martin will read it on air, and NPR will publish it online, where contributors will be credited.
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If you Kiwis are feeling particularly poetic today please submit your heartfelt pro-jogger poem Here.
