The Scottsboro Boys, no joy in this poem, only a
remembrance of another instance of Jim Crow injustice,
charges of ****, not agape, no sir, these ******* *****
two white women and should be lynched right now.
**** trials, get some ropes, no hope for these *******,
no sir. Yet, there was a stirring, even in the 1930s, for
justice even for black kids in Alabama, trials aplenty,
retrials too, a shoe could drop in the courtroom and
you couldn't hear it. ****, let's get on with it! Where's
the rope, you dope! You're white and can't fight your
way out of a paper bag. ****, you're KKK. You do
what you please, at ease with dark nights when we
burn them as they twist dead in the wind. Who got
the ropes, you *******? Why you wearing that white
sheet? ****! You don't know how to burn a dead
******? Take off that white sheet now and get the
hell out of here cause you doesn't deserve to be among
us. You gone--out of the KKK! Get in your pick-up
truck and leave now and don't never come back. We'll
burn this ****** forever!

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Hate filled minds
Living life in rewind
Drunk on the future so they wine
Crying about a past that had them powerful
Praying on hate and killing others less superior
Hating themselves for being more infrior
Hiding behind religion, saying it's God they serving,
what God you know condones killing, hating, and oppression

They serve a God with no vision
Wearing capes to hide their ambiguous faces
Yelling that they hate all races
These are the same co-workers who say they love all races
But behind closed doors
Pray to burning torches

Did you see it?
That brother can do it
oh yes indeed he can,

like a young trout at dusk,
in a sweet still lake,
like a pouncing cheetah,
from many yards out,
like Wille May in the outfield,
for a soaring high ball,
like the most monstrous of great whites
rising from the dark depths & exploding
out of the ocean seal prey all clenched
in its merciless jaws,

like a cobra after transfixing its quietened mark,
like the most glorious of lithe pole vaulters,
like the most dandy of sweet young gymnasts,
like the great bull Magic Johnson springing over all & slam
dunkin' that rocketed ball as the whole court is helpless & the
people rock & its more points on that board,
that brother did it

just tore that Southern Hate right on out
of their White Pride hands,
brother just plain did it.

White Knights
like to dress up
all hooded & ****
with slit-eyes and
pointy tops
to their
sheet-thing

& they come out
when its real dark
& burn stuff
& parade all around
shadowed bonfire-lit
in secluded fields
like lost
& deluded
drooling idiots,

they think they
walk the walk
& feel real fine
& fancy
with their grand wizard
lord of this & that
& pathetic hokey redneck
power-tripping
*******,

but lord no!
white knights
ride no gallant steeds
possess no magic
potions
have nothing
but a desperation
born of impotence
& sullen
bitter & imagined
loss.

white folks grandeur!
oh spare me so,
from evil
in its many disguises
& from very real
& dangerous men
hood-less
brazen
& right there
in front of us.

I was raised by a pack of fools
Who proclaim Caucasians are the best.
And are glad to fight, at the drop of a hint
To put the whole matter to the test.
They have an entire joke routine
And descriptive names they repeat
In minimizing and insisting that
Their right to decent treatment isn’t real.

There are references to some animals
And unfunny comments about color.
The statements about characteristics
Of body and features always go together
With a special set of gross anecdotes
To cover any kind of non-Christian belief.
And the refusal to consider equality
As a decent attitude stands in bright relief.

Beneath all this horror, not very deep,
Lies a sickening river of hate and fear
That fails to improve as education is
Rejected year after disgusting year.
Pointing out the error of their ways
Might earn you a punch in the eye
But the bigot hangs on to their rage
And never gives fellowship a try.

The American Bigot claims to be
A staunch Christian all the way through
Which forces them to hate and cheat
And lie as much as Jesus would do.
Of course, we know that Jesus was
A preacher of love and acceptance
But it seems that bigots never quite
Made that Jesus’ acquaintance.

So, here we can see we need to add
Some terms to this kind of individual
Whose relationship to peace and love
Is at best slight, scant and residual.
We also need to append to their titles
Of masters of anger fear and prejudice
The unhealthy pallor of indecency,
Dishonesty, inhumanity and cowardice.