AMORAL ACCOMPLICES

He saw him pull the trigger but he tactfully turned his head

“He got what he deserved,” is what his partner grimly said.

“Right on,” he yelled, then two thumbs up, to finish the retort,

“But now back to the station, and make up that damn report.”

He’d seen the routine many times and knew the part he’d play.

A witness to the use of force “There was no other way.”

Those people don’t respect the law, you know the ones I mean

They’re Black or Brown or practically all the colors in between.

He sometimes felt a twinge of guilt that festered and then faded

“The truth is never black or white,” they both commiserated.

It’s just these goddamn videos they’re showing on the news

They make it near impossible to slant the public’s views.

His partner had a temper that was markedly misdirected

His victims were the lower classes, just what you expected.

He coyly tried to cover up his partner’s gross abuses

A planted gun, a flashing knife, a myriad excuses.

It soon became a commonplace, a part of every shift

Much easier to get along than open up a rift

For after all, you really need a partner you can trust

“It’s just the way the game is played,” he muttered in disgust.

The price he pays to look away, to manufacture lies

Is evident within his soul, resistant to disguise

His honor, pride, the badge he wears fall victim to the stain

A vile homage to treachery, a symbol of disdain

The rot resists, consumes its host, predictable decay

Despite fair opportunity to choose a wiser way --

The Moral Man, the chimera, oft-forsaken, often spurned,

Eternal truth, the fruits of which a multitude have earned

When “I can’t breathe,” and Tamir Rice are echoes of the past

When Freddie Gray and Walter Scott are vindicated at last

The day of reckoning will come to those who “played the game”

A mockery to “Protect and Serve,” dishonor, scandal, shame.