IV.

By the time Marvin gets to “…bombs bursting in air…,” you can see his hands finally stop shaking. A rhythmic clap begins to grow from the audience.

I watch fireworks in July 2013. Two weeks later, George Zimmerman walks free, and Trayvon Martin is still dead.

(Marvin Gaye sings If you wanna love, you got to save the babies, and a black mother pulls her son close.)

I watch fireworks in July 2014. Later that month, the world turns to the internet and sees Eric Garner choked to death by police officer Daniel Pantaleo.

(Marvin Gaye sings Trigger happy policing / Panic is spreading / God knows where we’re heading, and thousands of people march from New York to Washington.)

I will watch the fireworks in 2015 and black churches are burning in the south. I will watch the fireworks in 2015 and no one marched for Renisha McBride.

I will watch the fireworks in 2015 and people I love can be legally married on Saturday, and then legally fired from their jobs on Monday.

(Marvin Gaye sings In the morning, I’ll be alright, my friend, and a group of black children watch the sky light up, seeing darkness turned inside out for the first time.)