Piedmont High graduate Nidhi Naroth won the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s annual “Justice for All” contest with her poem, “A Murderer at Large.”  The theme of year’s competition was “Race and Law Enforcement — Let’s Work Together to Make it Better.”  Three students won a total of $1,000 in scholarship money, funded through the District Attorney’s Asset Forfeiture program. Nidhi’s winning entry is below.

 

A Murderer at Large

I did nothing wrong, why did he pull me over

I have the slightest suspicion that he’s not sober

His car flashes red and blue commanding me to be scared

I do this all the time but I’m never fully prepared

This correct stranger in steel blacks and unfriendly blues

I’m dressed in my career, my livelihood down to the bruise

He’s marching with excessive pride

I walk in simple strides

He flaunts cold badge of power and authority

A symbol of what I’ve done and my dedicated seniority

I think of news reports of people like me dying because of their skin color

I think about radio reports of police being killed during a pullover

I hope he doesn’t use his gun

I hope he doesn’t have a gun

He doesn’t know I have a family expecting me

I have a family awaiting anxiously

Maybe I’ll have to use my gun

I hope I don’t have to use my gun

My sweaty hands hold at the barrel

My cautious hand on my holster expecting peril

He comes up to the window

I come up to the window

I see the gun in his hands

I see the gun in his hands

I’m scared

I’m scared

I pull the trigger

I pull the trigger

Two bodies lay lifelessly

Both died thinking they shot righteously

The media will polarize the situation

Feed the issue into an already divided nation

They’ll try to pass judgement on a delicate controversy

They’ll try to decide which dead man receives blame and which one deserves mercy

Which family deserves to mourn more

Which side gets to keep the score

But both are a victim of something much bigger

For it was the murderer called fear that pulled both triggers

.  .  .  .  .

by Nidhi Narot