Mural Commissioned by https://www.futurehistorynow.org/ Photo: Brian White, Street Art Films

If I were to riot
I would riot against those institutions that actively harm Black people
I would riot against those businesses built on the stolen labor of Black people
I would riot against those churches built with bloodied Black hands
I would riot against book clubs and listening circles
I would riot against performative allyship and corporate co-option
I would riot against blue lives flags and stickers
I would riot against legislative bodies that encode and enact white supremacy
I would riot against white supremacists statues in public places
I would riot against museums and art institutions that promote anti-Black standards of beauty
I would riot against universities promulgating notions of classical that are white supremacist by design and intent
I would riot against financial institutions that flipped there slave-produced wealth into astronomical sums buy redlining and exploiting Black and brown and poor people
I would riot against representatives who gerrymander themselves into a white supremacist hegemony
I would riot against courts that render unjust justice and call it justice
I am not rioting
Today
At least, not in the streets
My words are a riot
A riot of fire
Leaping from page and screen
Kindling
Stoking
Inflaming
Smoldering
Feeding the flames of the riots to come