Baby, there are kind people in Oakland
gentle people who nod before speaking
in corn, lentil, rice and vegetable
cooking paths to green cards and social security.

Baby, there are kind people Oakland
looping pink plastic bags over handlebars
braiding tire tracks and hairs into the ten o' clock lake
pouring water on aloe, on lemons, on jade
and sidewalks saddened by police.

Baby, there are kind people here in Oakland
and dear one for you to sleep well, we pray
six times a day
and with picket signs
and with long tongues
and with open palms
and with eyes shut
and with arms around our shoulders rocking
and with tobacco between our fingers
and with photos of your father around us.

* Tatiana Grant is the daughter of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man who was shot by a white BART officer, Johannes Mesherle at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, California. She was five years old when she lost her father on the morning of New Year's Day 2009.