Black Lives Matter Lamentation – Tisha B’Av 5780/2020
Chanting to Eicha trop
Words curated by Rabbi Debra Kolodny
Perek aleph: Chapter One: Final words of 8 Black men and one Black woman shot by police:
‘Officers, why do you have your guns out?’ – Kenneth Chamberlain
‘What are you following me for?’ – Trayvon Martin
‘Mom, I’m going to college’ – Amadou Diallo
‘I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.’ – Michael Brown
‘You shot me! You shot me!’ – Oscar Grant
‘It’s not real.’ – John Crawford
‘I can’t breathe.’ – Eric Garner
I love you too. Sean Bell
Please don’t let me die. Cristal Perkins
Perek bet: Chapter Two: The final words of George Floyd, Minneapolis, MN.
“I can’t breathe” (20 times)
They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me.”
“Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead.”
Perek gimel: Chapter Three: Roxie Washington. George Floyd’s ex partner:
I can’t get my words…together now,
but I wanted everyone…to know that this is what those officers took from…
At the end of the day, they get to go home and be with their families.
Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, or graduate.
He will never walk her down the aisle.
I’m here for George because I want justice for him.
I want justice for him because he was good.
No matter what anybody thinks, he was good.
Perek Dalet: Chapter Four: Nicholas Chavez’s father, Houston Texas
“It was an execution,”
“They just mowed him down like a dog,”
“That’s what they did, and that’s the part I don’t understand.
He was on his knees, already wounded.
He wasn’t a threat to anybody at that point.”
Perek He: Chapter Five: Kenneth Walker, boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, as he calls for help
Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom
Help! Oh My God!
Someone kicked in the door
and shot my girlfriend
Help, Oh my God!
I don’t know, she is on the ground right now.
I don’t know. I don’t know.
Help, Oh my God
Closing
Hashivenu Adonai, elecha V’nashuva
Chadesh yameinu b’kedem
Take us back, Yah, to yourself, and let us return
Renew our days as they were in our imagination of ancient times