Take Your Knee Off My Neck
A raw and powerful poem about injustice, pain, and the fight for survival. A cry for freedom, a demand for change: “Take your knee off my neck.”
Take your knee off my neck.
You murder—
all my blood is on your shoulder.
Look at your face,
you’re dripping with hate.
You break,
you want to segregate.
Aggravated, suffocate—hate.
You break,
you discriminate.
Take your knee off my neck.
I can’t breathe.
My heart bleeds.
Enough is enough.
My nostrils are closing—
ancestors hanging from apple trees.
You beat us, shoot us,
blood dripping from their feet.
Take your knee off my neck.
I can’t breathe.
Weeping, wailing—
murder’s blood is on your shoulders.
You dress in uniforms of brutality.
Burning flesh,
blood dripping from my neck.
6 a.m.—barely alive.
Take your knee off my neck.
The system is a mess.
But we will never give up.
We will fight with my dying breath.
Have mercy—
I’m stressed.
Take your knee off my neck.
About the Creator
Dana Green
“Passionate about telling stories that spark motivation and remind us of our strength. I write to encourage dreamers, uplift hearts, and push others to keep moving forward.”
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