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Blinded
Blinded
What happens
When a country is built on hate?
When people fled from prosecution but
Brought that violence
Across the ocean with them? And
The stones were laid
By the “founding fathers” over
Blood and tears and
The lives
Of the owners of this land?
What happens when the ones who truly built
The foundation
Lived and died as slaves
Carrying the weight of that violence and passing it on for
Generations
And generations
And generations?
The line between past
Present and future
blurrs
When masses are marginalized and
Shoved out
Voices
S i l e n c e d .
I wonder if our forefathers, the founding fathers knew what their actions would lead to, would they have done it the same? Did they ask themselves “What happens when a country is built on hate?”Or were their egos too big? Were they too determined and dedicated and driven by their own ideals and ideas that no one stopped to look beyond themselves? Do they look down on us now and regret? Wish they had opened their eyes? Do they see their country breaking under the strain and pain of its people? Do they look down on us now and regret?
L o o k a r o u n d .
What do you see?
Do you see the people here
Festering
Like an infected wound
The pathogens of hate and fear
Woven right through the fabric of our flag
Crisscrossing our streets and our hearts
Like distorted crosswalks?
Do you see the people hiding in
P L A I N S I G H T
Hopeless and pushed away
Cowering and afraid?
The people harassed and assaulted and degraded?
Whose humanity is stolen?
The people taken prisoner in cages of bars and decisions and dreams?
The people barely holding on?
The people blind to it all?
The people living so much in their worlds their own heads
That nothing breaks the glass distorted and frosted
with selfishness that they look through?
Do you see the people struggling to
Mend the tears in the tissue of equality?
The people fighting the spider that
Entangles us
Intent on destroying us
Intent on entrapping us in webs of lies and bribes?
The people already poisoned by her?
The people with eyes filled with contempt
Waving guns and flags?
The people yelling and shouting and screaming but who
Still cannot hear one another?
The people who have given up?
The people standing on the edge just watching?
The people wishing and hoping and praying and manifesting
A different destiny and yet still
The world does not change?
Do you see yourself?
Do you see anyone else?
Of course not.
How could we as a people see each other clearly when
There are walls up
Guards up
Barriers up
That might as well be made of stone
Because our bones
Break and shatter from bullets of excruciating, never-ending violence
Our hearts are destroyed
Piece by piece and
All we can do is grieve
When the walls are
Reinforced with hatred and stinging barbs of misunderstanding
How can we clearly see each other?
We stand by and force children and teachers who cannot choose what books to read
Lay
Down
Their
Lives
For a right that has been manipulated
Misinterpreted
Misunderstood for far too long
What will it take for us to face one another?
Another innocent Black man or woman murdered because we refuse to fix a system we
Know is broken?
Will it take more rights being threatened, more voices silenced?
Another mass shooting?
Because there have been over 200 this year and we haven’t changed a god***n thing.
Will it take another war?
We forget
That people are suffering and dying every day simply for being the
Wrong color or the wrong religion or the wrong gender
or being on the wrong side of an invisible line.
When does it stop?
When can we make ourselves stop?
And yes, we. you, and i, and every person here, every person not here. This is not an impersonal plea, this is each and every one of us responsible for the world we live in.
How can we make ourselves stop?
When we only look through frosted glass, or we don’t look at all?
We will never see each other clearly, unless we open our eyes to the sins we commit and support,
Until we let go.
Until we learn to love, truly love.
Until we have radical empathy, rather than radical beliefs.
Until we can all breathe, not hated and not hateful
We will not change our trajectory
Towards infinite pain
Until we change.
So look around. Open your eyes and break through the frosted glass.
What do you see?
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I wrote the first half of this piece on January 6, 2021, after the events of the innsurrection as a way to process. I added the second half later to compete at the 2022 NSDA Nationals in Original Spoken Word, and placed in the top 50.