Repetition
Switching between the image of the open hand, nonthreatening and calling for help, and the hand enclosing the wallet, a common item, helps to connect the reader to life that the narrator had. These images seem thought provoking when the reader begins the narrative, and, once the reader completes the narrative, they have an understanding of the significance of the images being used. However, as the reader progresses through the narrative, the use of the same two images makes the reader forget the potential significance of those images. This concept of repetition is described in the Poem "Repetition" by Phil Kaye, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vqbo1FuoLQ (Kaye).
This is used to parallel the injustices of police brutality. When the cases of police brutality that people across the country came to hear of first began to appear, they did not appear to be a part of a larger pattern, just as the images seen in "My Hands/Wishful Thinking" do not hold as much significance to the reader at the beginning of the narrative. Furthermore, as people heard of more cases of police brutality over the years, the names and lives of those affected begin to simply become statistics, just as the use of the same two images brings the reader to lose sight of the meaning behind them.