Ferguson Poet Uses Words Of Kindness To Change Police Attitudes

What´s the best way to deal with institutional racism and the continual police harassment of black Americans? According to 22-year old spoken word poet Marcellus Buckley, it´s  simple words of kindness.  Since first attending protests on August 14th, Marcellus has become known as Ferguson’s poet, distributing his poetry about social justice and inequality far and wide.

Marcellus, who has served in the military and was once told (while being harassed by a bad cop) that “they let any monkey in nowadays”, is inspirational in not allowing this kind of disgusting attitude deter him from his message of peace, love and equality.

He attended the Ferguson protests and tried to change the hearts and minds of police officers there by handing out copies of his poems. Marcellus says one police officer claimed he couldn´t read, so he decided to recite it for all of them instead. “He had no choice but to listen, and a white cop really appreciated it,” the poet says.

“There are police officers who are not ignorant, racist, or bigoted,”he goes on. “But for the ones who are like that, who did get my poetry, I did it for them too. This is going to be a movement for the rest of our lives. It´s at the boiling point where we´re just getting fed up of it.”

His message? “Peace, love, harmony for all of humanity, and let justice be fair.”

This is the kind of activism we´d like to see more of!

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