strange fruit

S   T   R   A   N   G   E      F   R   U   I   T

Their names not compiled in government databases.

Their faces usually familiar only to family and friends.

The sudden termination of their lives, the dashed hopes and broken dreams, never factored into heartbreaking equations of national tragedy.

Once hung from ropes or found burned alive and bound to trees, their bodies now turn up in back alleys, on public streets, or even in their own homes.

Lynching, once the province of average citizens who donned the white sheets of impunity, today reflects the handiwork of those known in official parlance as law enforcement professionals.

The uniform has changed.

The crime has not.

An ongoing slaughter where outrage is muted, lives ruled inconsequential, and murderers absolved by rubber stamps.

It cannot continue.