Which Cop Are You?

Trying to distinguish between
What does it mean to follow orders
for the police.

Is it

to shove and push,
to use excessive force,
to murder,
to disturb the peace?

To look the other way,
to create violence,
to show aggression

Because that is your constitutional law?
Or is it?

To solemnly swear,
righteously declare,
to uphold human rights,
to have the courage
to hold yourself and others accountable.

To protect and to serve,
to defend the Constitution

Which cop are you?

The good cop?
The crooked cop?

The one who pulls the trigger
because the target is brown,
The one who assumes
Skin color is guilt.

The one who uses
a badge and a gun
to justify
a knee on the neck,
a fist to the throat,
a boot pressed
against the face.

The one who strips away
constitutional rights
as if they’re paper in the wind
and calls it justice.

History repeats itself.
Different decade,
Same blood on the street,
The same mother’s scream.

Which cop are you?

The one who hides
Behind a blue wall of silence?
Or the one who stands in the open,
Breaking ranks to protect the people
You swore to serve?

Because your uniform
isn’t your morality.
Your badge
isn’t your soul.

And one day
We will all remember
Which cop did you choose to be?