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Rest in Power, Barry.

Barry

Washington

Junior.

Say.

His.

Name.


Barry Washington Junior.


Another soul another

Boy another boy’s

Life another mother’s

baby another father’s

son, another name

another black

body.

“It wasn’t police this time”.

Wasn’t it, though?

Define police—do police only

come in uniforms? In

cars and stations?

Or do they come in

raised pickups with

American flags,

blue lives matter

decals, code for:

we’re watching.

Aka we’re

policing.

Policing is: anything, anyone, that

serves and protects

White Supremacy.

Serves and protects

White Leniency.

The perp, he got out.

Out on $1000

bail. His gun

probably

costs as

much.

Policing is your body believing,

that it needs a gun

to dance.

Needs a gun

to protect your

jealousy your

fragility

when someone

dares

compliment

your girlfriend.

How dare he?

Bang bang.

Sirens. Silence.

White silence.

Bend’s silence.

A culture

of violence

of fear

underneath all that

Patagonia, inside your

sprinter vans, your

REI tents.

“But we vote blue! Or

purple, at least”.

Words mean nothing

anymore, haven’t

you heard? Radical

change, policy,

is the language

we speak.

And

we can’t

understand you.

We can’t

hear you.

Will you learn our language?

This way there’s no more

miscommunications, no more

Black, brown, trans, immigrant

bodies.

In Bend.


Barry Washington Jr. moved to Bend ~1 month ago from the San Francisco Bay Area. He was shot and killed by 27 year old Ian Cranston in downtown Bend, who pulled a permitted concealed weapon after a finished scuffle outside a nightclub and shot Barry to death. Barry had simply complimented Cranston's girlfriend and was reported as not being aggressive or inappropriate. Cranston was arrested and then released on $1000 bail, with a charge of only second degree manslaughter. His first court date is slated for October 5, 2021.

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