#nationalanthem
In response to "To the football players who took a knee," by PluviopileSr:
In response to all of the people who have tried to silence our suffering:
So, you think we are disrespectful?
Jump into my skin. Walk to school each morning, head held high and feet grounded into the concrete. Continue walking as cars rush by, and pretend not to notice as some of them roll down their windows. Be warned, they will hurl insults at you. "N-ggers don't belong here." "Get off our street." They will hurl back-handed compliments. "You so fine, mama, you gotta be mixed." "Come in my car, baby, that *** belongs here." Don't respond, but know that later these words will echo in your head, making you a foreigner in your own home. Get used to saying "no," without saying no at all. And when you do refuse, don't be surprised when those people pull over and leap out of their cars. They will follow you. And you will have to determine whether to stay and fight or to run.
That is disrespect.
Get taken aside by a mall cop. Have that cop ask your best friend if he stole the shoes that sat on his feet. Watch them argue, attempt to step in and pacify them both, and listen as the cop spits at you,"N-ggers like you are always lying." Your best friend will respond like lightning, but you will feel the entire world begin moving in slow-motion. His fist will pull back, veins popping through his dark skin, and your first response will be to hold him back and push him away. To avoid any chance of conflict. Avoid any chance of danger. He will try to fight, and you will not.
Elders teach us that if you act and dress professionally, keep your hands where the officer can see them, and don't speak back, then nothing bad will happen to us. But take a moment to watch a video. Watch Alton Sterling, whose name I still have trouble saying out loud, be shot as he lay on the ground. Watch Delrawn Small simply approach a police car before he is shot. Watch this happen over and over and over again from the intolerable comfort of your bedroom. Your brother's blood is spilling on the concrete. Your sister's feet are dangling from the floor, and you are doing nothing. You are not allowed to do or say anything without being told that you are disrespectful. People police your tone in order to muffle your message.
No one who is protesting has said a word against the military, against the people who fought for us to be safe from other countries. The two topics are completely different. But we cannot forget that now is the time to protect all of our citizens. Protect us from each other, from extrajudicial ****** from the system that has kept people of color from feeling heard in America. The flag stands for a history of citizens who fought for their freedom, but we can't deny that it also holds the black blood which has been spilled and never given justice.
The military and the ****** of black men in America are completely different topics. Putting them together is irrational, and it is a way to divert from the meaning of kneeling during the National Anthem:
Our country is in a state of distress. If no one will acknowledge that, we will fly our own flags half-mast.
There is not a God who can provide liberty and justice for all. He does not change people's minds. It is our job to live, live freely, and to make our own choices on how to treat the people around us. Whether or not you follow the Bible, Torah, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, or anything else, we must acknowledge our differences and treat each other with love. Your emotions and choices are your own.
So yes. I'll take a knee with Colin Kaepernick. I'll do that any day, if it means not standing with the system that makes life more difficult every day. Because what is more important: being safe or being heard?
Sep 27, 2017
Sep 27, 2017 at 11:39 AM UTC
God bless America,
Land of irony
Because nothing is ever actually free—
Not when our economy is fueled by tragedy,
Not when we keep armies in the East just to keep gas prices cheap.
If you take the top eight military
budgets of the world,
over 50% of that sum is the United States, so
God bless America.
As rivers of blood flood the streets in Syria,
God bless America.
Land of the religiously free,
Land where "God bless America" could refer to any one of the gods acknowledged
by its inhabitants.
God bless America,
Where Muslims of all races have to apologize for ISIS but white Christians don’t have to apologize for the KKK.
When the **** party tried to destroy an entire race in Germany, it became illegal to ever speak favorably of them,
But, hey, here you can execute your right to ‘freedom of speech.’
The First Amendment protects you from being silenced by the government,
But it doesn’t protect you from backlash of the people you’ve offended, the people you’ve appropriated, the people who are sick of having to put up with this.
God bless America,
Where segregation apparently ended in the 60s,
Where women apparently achieved equality in the 20s,
Where the LGBTQ community is seen as trendy simply because you can no longer be arrested for being out and proud.
God bless America,
Where the majority of kids on the streets are queer teens and where
It’s still seen as acceptable to wave the flag of the Confederacy.
God bless America,
But God forsake everyone else.
God bless America, for every single unwarranted and unjustified arrest.
God bless America for false information and standardized tests.
God bless America
For every flaw we refuse to fix.
And as we destroy our planet without thought
of the fact that it’s currently the only feasible place for us to live,
I make one last request:
May the future generations be blessed,
Because God knows they'll need it.
Apr 4, 2016
Apr 4, 2016 at 3:33 PM UTC
Did you honor his death by saying what was given
to his mother is no longer your burden?
The reason he died was not your purpose; it was
not for you and of that you are certain
But was he not someone who set you free by dying
for the idea that you now assert?
He never knew your anger, only that he received
a bullet and his ideals are covered by dirt
You are free to sit while a nation tries to believe in
something, knowing that he did die
Is it because only a certain race can rule the world
or is the harbor torch the reason why?
Reading the entire alphabet forwards and backwards
does not reveal the truth of every tome
Crying every time my grown son leaves does not
mean that I do not have a life of my own
To believe what we know to be true about the past
need not seed tomorrow's foment
And to encourage revolt by those who foster hatred
is only the path of future torment
It is not the destruction of the union that will unite us;
only the bonds of love for what is written
The words of freedom contain no ambiguity but the fire
of hate makes only ash if we don’t listen
It is not the strong to whom we always owe our thanks;
it is the least of us for whom we wish to weep
You say you will no longer salute our symbol of hope,
but do you pray for his soul to keep?
To those who would read the words and wave the flag is
not a gun pointed at the poor among us
Instead it would be they who would remind that a song
is the moment equality becomes our purpose
Sep 5, 2016
Sep 5, 2016 at 5:04 PM UTC
(my world)
Azure sky domes over clouds of cotton white,
freshly washed clothes on the clothesline,
sway freely to summer winds...sun is bright,
so generous...............it hurts my eyes.
through a rumble of overgrown bushes, i enter,
my hair, nose, fingers, elbows get tangled
in spiders' webs...i step back, leave their corner
freedom is well-guarded...fortified is their world.
in a nearby school, the flag waves with dignity
national anthem plays...its lyrics vow loudly
to preserve precious freedom...faithfully.
school scenes slow me down...but, i hurry
now, home to my own freedom, my world,
my world...a safe bubble, like...a microcosm,
a microcosm long existing...a secret world,
a secret world i frequent when i need to,
when i need to be...alone, creating poetry,
...creating poetry on life's nitty-gritty
...and trivialities...
inside my world, muse eases the tossing,
turning mind...helps shape scenes to a tee,
lets me go rhyming.....or free versing
in couplets, sonnets, a dirge, or a ditty...
Sally
© Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan
June 11, 2020
Jun 11, 2020
Jun 11, 2020 at 2:13 AM UTC