#protests
We walk over Stone Walls
Wielding 'weapons' of rainbow flags.
Yet who gets to decide what are weapons and what are
Self-defence?
We walk over Stone Walls
Wielding 'weapons' of yelling "Love is Love"
Yet who gets to decide what are weapons and what are
Self-assurance?
We walk over Stone Walls
Wielding 'weapons' of blue, pink and white banners
Yet who gets to decide what are weapons and what are
Self-expression?
We walk with Stonewall - the one we built - and
Wield banners and flags and our
Voices
Who tell you to change past mistakes that were not mistakes
Because they were intentions carved into laws to harm.
And why should past faults of ours
Hurt people
Miles away?
We stand on Stone Walls we built
So we can be seen from even all the way over there
In Commonwealth who lack the currency of
Love for people's
Differences
We walk onto our Stonewalls
And tell you to change outdated rules.
Laws are meant to make, not break.
Make Equality, don't
Break it.
11h ago
Jun 3, 2026 at 3:16 PM UTC
Empathy in this world
Is what we need
Empathy is what we should breathe
I sit here at night
And i cry
I ask god why!?
Why?
People are fighting
For their rights,
yet they're being called
Evil and spies
Watching their families
Screaming goodbye
Yet the people watching the news
Screaming they're the bad few
They're the evil of the world..
Empathy needs to be cured.
It breaks my heart
And it should break yours
The state of this world
The state of the people
So much suffering
So much pain
But they only care about
All of their gain,
Billionaires
And fame
It's getting darker
more cruel
It's hard to ignore
But what can i do?
I'm one of the weak few
The disabled
The poor
A women
Crying at your door
What can i do?
What can any of us do?
Stand and scream
Have an epiphany
Fight for what's right
Burn the senate down
Take away his crown
But in reality
Will standing and screaming work?
Or will we all just go berserk?
Fighting for what's right,
While being told we're wrong
Til we're all gone..
But we belong!
We aren't doing wrong
We are the weak but also
The strong
We will stand
We will give a helping hand
It's all we can do,
To keep empathy around
Jun 10, 2025
Jun 10, 2025 at 2:46 PM UTC
If you’ve read any of my delicious, hand-crafted vignettes and listened to us talk, you’ll know that my roommates and I are critical thinking swifties who spend hour after hour talking about anything and everything, all at once. We’re full of niche feelings, lukewarm takes and sometimes, we’re in direct conflict with one another about pop culture, politics and life at Yale. I usually avoid the strikingly controversial - here - believe it or not.
There was an anti-Gaza-war protest encampment, briefly, at Yale. You could walk by it or sit, on early spring mornings and watch the goings-on with a cup of coffee. It wasn’t big. It was easily avoidable. They weren’t threatening and they didn’t tear things up (like Columbia). There were 200 students at most - the times I was there (out of a student body of 14,776). Passerby - students, professors, counter-protesters and casual observers would be asked to stop for a portrait - a quick picture taken against a white backdrop.
If you said “yes” there was packing tape and markers to write your own, individual message that you would affix to your clothing, temporarily. This went on for a few days. Many people I saw were apprehensive about being documented in that environment — fretting about the repercussions of being doxed — if so, they could turn their backs to the camera or covid mask their faces. There were well over a hundred portraits (my guess) taped up on walls, placards and tents.
I found the pictures to be a cross section of humanity - all races and ages. The messages were as diverse as the authors: The opposite of war is.. creation. Free Palestine. Everybody chill. There’s enough empathy for everyone. If we don’t protest genocide, our education is useless. Jews 4 Palestine. You admitted me, now accept me. Faculty for free expression. Let students teach you courage. We’re sitting on the lawn. Unsuspend my students. Divest from death. Do more. You wanted engaged students - I guess you have them. What does my 80k per year buy? Peace. Bring the 203 home.
The contrasts were fascinating and the pictures surprisingly moving. The people in those photographs, no matter the message, seemed beautiful. They stood taller and seemed prouder than normal. Free speech, like voting, is so American and so empowering. I found my heart going out to all of them - I’m proud of them.
I didn’t protest. Am I flawed - probably - but my work and volunteer-load is egregious. Were the protest subjects serious - yes, were the protestors serious - yes, was there an air of holiday excitement and escape from ordinary burdens - yes. I carried on as usual - so did my roommates. We're in scientific disciplines - we’re logical and surprisingly serious little-miss-Spocks - not easily distracted from our goals.
Every night, growing up, my family discussed and debated the particular issues of the day. The Israel/Palestine situation was seldom far from the headlines. It’s one of the most complex situations in world history. I ken this - there are no easy answers - the problems are un-TikTok-able.
In my family, you were expected to join the school debate team. You were expected to think. As the youngest, I was soaking it all up before I could participate. In high school, my debate specialty was extemporaneous speaking - so don’t get me started.
.
.
songs for this:
A Man of Great Promise by The Style Council
Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips
That's Me Trying by William Shatner
May 5, 2024
May 5, 2024 at 12:27 PM UTC
as I watch the protests from within
tearing down my streets my people
I have come to love and hate this country all at once
but in times of trouble and pain
the israeli people are my family
I feel my heart breaking all over again
but as well I remember the tears and blood
of the palestianians blood that is still fresh upon
the same land for the past 75 years of terror
see people think that its just the land of israel or palestine
but no its been a land of conflict and pain for a long while
a place where the greatest demons fears and patriarchial patterns
play out
I think that's why its one of the centers of the world
probably the only place.
You can feel the energies burning through seething
I can't explain it
only the ones who feel connected to this place
feel it
its as if the land cries
along with its people
the scorching sun
lights afire
and the people are on fire
for life for good or bad
I know that this place will prevail on
in some way
my place
my israel
my falestine
my middle east.
Jul 24, 2023
Jul 24, 2023 at 4:59 PM UTC
No paths are bound
no roads are taken
the future's only
what we make it
Mar 18, 2021
Mar 18, 2021 at 7:39 AM UTC
Write between the lime juice lines,
And basil blood,
On the cutting board
To the rhythm of cooks' kitchen knives,
Write between the wet mop tendril trails,
On the reused restaurant floor,
As you carried to clean
A mistake some rich man made,
Write to the beat of the press,
Punching out the steel form,
In accordance with the curriculum,
Write in the silent moments,
Chewing homemade sandwiches
Through the cigarette smoked sunrise
Write between stun grenade blasts
After cleaning tear gas attacks
Write in between ****** boot prints,
The shape of the state seal
Congealed to the street.
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020 at 10:01 PM UTC
We hexed the moon
We burned downtown
We killed Carlos
We started a plague
We started riots
We almost started a 3rd war
We protested and got shot
We killed our year
We said it would be better
We lied and broke it
We tried and failed it
And now I'm sick of resentment
But we can improve it
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020 at 9:42 AM UTC
Oh
New York
New York
How I
would of
loved you
Oh
New York
New York
You've turned
So blue
Oh
New York
New York
I may never
see you
Oh
New York
New York
What else
can we do
New York
New York
You've seen
Too much
Doom
New York
New York
Chaos has
filled your
Womb
New York
New York
your future
lies
in loom
Oh
New York
New York
Don't be
so gloom
New York
New York
I pray
that you
bloom
Dear
New York
New York
Those will
visit
Your tomb
Sep 13, 2020
Sep 13, 2020 at 6:45 PM UTC
I can’t sleep
peaceful
in my bed.
Cause
there’s
demons
chanting.
Outside
for the dead.
_____________________________
Get Out!
Get Out!
As they scream
for me.
To
Get Out!
Get Out!
& Join
in
the streets.
Get Out!
Get Out!
As I
come out
Too see.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Are those
screaming
at me.
Get Out!
Get Out!
When
casting
stones
At me.
Get Out!
Get Out!
While
they scream
as
I eat.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Come & kneel
at our
feet.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Those people
sure
hate
on me.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Death threats
too me.
Get Out!
Get Out!
As they scream
at
police.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Slandering
you
and me.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Too claim
they
bring peace.
Get Out!
Get Out!
From History
we'll read.
Get Out!
Get Out!
Chant
Anarchist'.
In
the streets.
Sep 7, 2020
Sep 7, 2020 at 1:05 AM UTC
Frustration I can understand,
Devastation I cannot bear,
King saw the promised land,
In the dream that we all share.
Tear that falls or persevere,
Across the land of ‘opportunity’,
Where do we go from here?
Chaos or community?
We sat through hate in Woolies,
Walked past Birmingham’s barks,
Rose a people ravished in slavery,
Yet in this stand tarnish Parks.
Voices are clearer than crackles of fire,
Change must be built peace by peace,
Though I know the situation is dire,
One must show beauty to tame the beast.
We will never see the coming of the lord,
Through the suffocating smoke, of the horde.
Jul 14, 2020
Jul 14, 2020 at 7:10 PM UTC
Many moments recalled in pain
Even as everyone wonders in vain
Martin lay motionless at the Lorraine
Photos pour popular chords of disdain
His was a hallowed history to gain
Innocence into infinity’s drain
Seasons secure will never be slain
Jul 12, 2020
Jul 12, 2020 at 2:02 PM UTC
Cook our intelligence
Look at the belligerent
Hate filled hornet nest
Continent of ****** pest
Fumigation of the U S
litigation red tape
when a sticky red fate
gets caught on tape
Oppression communicate
When killers walk out gratis
CIA, FBI, NBC, All of them be
Lying to me, cause the tv told me
this was the nation of the free
**** that we are a nation of slaves
Haven't evolved since yesterdays
Declaration freedom from tyrants
Then drove the natives to tears
Never equal when they see ants
Regicide of a king who had a dream
Martyr the leaders to slow the steam
Now the nation burns its mainstream
ACAB, SRA, BLM, All of them be
Talking to me, cause life told me
That freedom it ain't really free
Data stream use instant transmission
Every one, one team with one mission
Can silence a king how about a nation
All chasing the dream of compassion
Fighting mace and tears with passion
While our president hides in his residence
Plotting with pence on building a fence
And Biden forgets he was the antecedent
Passed in 1997 military gear to the precinct
Two party election, its insanity or compliance
That trump boy works with Geppetto
Puppet and toy to masters he echos
Funny money, president to get dough
String pullers they really made a show
Now the polls they swinging so low
But Biden's another flunky
Dancin to the biddin of ******
Oligarch kings of the country
Sayin dance you ****** donkey
**** the country till it walks funny
Scared of the protest they cant contest
Plants in the crowd to **** interest
Cant fold wont be fooled by insects
Declare a war on our country's best
Commit war crimes in blue vests
I don't know where our future will go
But if we keep movin and never slow
Where we're goin is better than now
Yesterdays wounds will heal I know
This nightmare could end tomorrow
Maybe this was never the land of the free
But it could be if we wanted it to be
If we plant the seed nurture it and see
Keep it safe from greed's insanity
Nurture it with bodies of the bourgeois
Jun 28, 2020
Jun 28, 2020 at 8:38 PM UTC
time marches on
reality's fire consumes—
dreams go up in smoke
Dishonest weights, deceptive scales forsake
as chains of injustice rake the flesh
of the preyed-upon bleeding, amid wild
wolves feeding, soft sheep bleating,
protestor's pleading, jurisdictions cheating,
cajoling, wheedling, injustice repeating—
jurisprudence at the confluence
of affluence and influence
~undocumented lies exhumed
unmitigated truth entombed~
They have their thumb on the scale! We
have sussed every detail on the field of
debris, some so fiercely taking a knee,
others shot trying to flee! "I can't breathe,"
"I don't care!" Why don't they care?
Of what justice is meting beware!
One higher than the highest is watching,
waiting to signal the one riding to conquer
and complete his conquest. What's the true
future view? What more can we do
before we become past tense?
tragedies worldwide
flooding my senses daily—
fill my bag of tears
© 2020 Mark Toney. All rights reserved.
Jun 18, 2020
Jun 18, 2020 at 11:09 AM UTC
All the constant protests
And with world also burning
All i could see how the tables were turning
The police continued brutality
They started using sticks
Also started throwing bricks
The state was in a state of chaos
People had to step up the game
All got included with the ones with fame
Amazing results were shown
The state was progressing at all time
With the decrease in number of crime
Jun 9, 2020
Jun 9, 2020 at 4:48 PM UTC
“From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
–William Shakespeare (Prologue to Romeo and Juliet)
I was hewn from the helpless limbs of a tree
Which could have grown
To become something magnificent
Through sanding and carving
Through varnishing and the work of human hands
I was formed
In a way, the tree which was mutilated to give me life
Was a foreshadowing of my truncheon fate
I swing through the air once again
A weapon in the hands of a vehement oppressor
Skin splits
Blood sprays
Bone shatters
Bodies litter the dust
Staining the earth with crimson testament
To the cruelty I have wrought
Some of the figures are marred
Reminiscent of the tree from which I was hewn
Which died to give me life
The dark throng of protestors
Are but mortals
Faced by the immortal power
Of those lighter beings
Who wield me, mercilessly
I wish to weep
For the destruction, pain
Anguish I leave in my wake
I wish I was still a living bough
Capable of shedding resin tears
Capable of yielding to greater forces
Not to force the vulnerable to break
But I cannot weep
I cannot yield
I am a baton
A weapon in the hands of those who swore to protect
Yet scythe down those who rise to protect what is rightfully theirs
Ancient grudge of black and white
Break to new mutiny of segregation
Where civil blood of those who seek protection
Makes civil hands who swore to guard them
Unclean.
Jun 6, 2020
Jun 6, 2020 at 6:59 AM UTC
This year,
we found angels
and demons,
heroes and cons,
standing upon and
deep beneath
this world.
Jun 4, 2020
Jun 4, 2020 at 3:23 AM UTC
Centuries have passed, people have fought,
Nothing is happening because the wrong teachings are taught.
Voices have spoken, and riots have been arranged,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
Corruption is seen, through the law and through power,
People are still suffering, climbing the social tower.
We have grown together, all in the same range,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
People are suffering, no different than they have before
Their dignity is broken, and their lives are at tore.
The brutality is still here, causing infinite pain,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
The risk of walking outside is something people truly endure,
The actions of opposition are devilish and impure.
There have been millions fighting to end this derange,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
The cruelty and beliefs of difference have left nothing but war,
We’re ignoring who people are at their core.
There are people begging for the oppressors to get tamed,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
The inequality is further preventing justice,
How does authority expect to be trusted.
An everyday battle has formed to abolish the chains,
But still – nothing has seemed to change.
There needs to be unity, not among some, but all,
Together we stand, divided we fall,
Speak out, bring justice, fight together in one lane,
Because there is no more time to not see change.
Jun 3, 2020
Jun 3, 2020 at 7:38 PM UTC
But the view's fine from here,
they say, all carbon copy cloying concern.
They don't know that the sun doesn't rise
and set quite so exquisitely
when your sky
is on fire.
But the view's from fine here,
they maintain, as unsaid words skulk in the throat.
They don't notice the skin that burns and crackles
and stretches at a breaking point
that's been broken
for years.
But the view's fine from here,
they confirm. And then turn away.
They don't see what shouldn't be seen,
what eyes can't afford to shut
even as glass splinters
edge closer.
And they are right, really,
because their view truly is fine from here.
#BlackLivesMatter i
Jun 3, 2020
Jun 3, 2020 at 4:50 AM UTC
heat
fog
pity
dread
those masks
don’t hide
your sin
very well
with every inch
of our blood
we crave for
the soft life
the street is bloated
with pus of greed
while fresh wounds seek
the hand of virtue
for the tired, in reparation
for the made, in rumination
for the hurting, in salubrity
for the fallen, in solidarity
May 31, 2020
May 31, 2020 at 10:31 PM UTC
Dear democracy,
Are you really there?
Fighters fought for freedom
Now the youth, for their share.
You taught us to be free,
You taught us to put our opinion
But lately you seem like a mere word,
To be used by only a politician.
Dec 18, 2019
Dec 18, 2019 at 9:39 AM UTC
The twinkling stone
is what becomes most
desired~ A diamond,
a ring, a promise for
eternity~
Rare a love that does not
encompass fears of solitude,
Oh, the drills of society!
How it drills and drills
and drills into us.
How it perfects us and makes
us unflawed~ us, women,
how thankful we should
be for a life in the selfless
abyss.
Fear not, moments of
contained frenzy,
are left unheard~
For we live, trapped,
in an inescapable
labyrinth.
Nov 13, 2019
Nov 13, 2019 at 8:13 AM UTC
My sweet boy
I recall your first step
First word
Your Smiles and cries
The excitement in which you viewed a fly
Such a precious little thing you were
And now you're dead
Laid on a pavement, shot in the head
Eyes wide open, staring at the sky
Perhaps for one last time, you're searching for that fly.
Sep 7, 2018
Sep 7, 2018 at 2:50 PM UTC
Mourners of truth, now hashtag your pain.
Retweet and like, righteous fury appease.
Protests are trending, do not apathy feign.
Fight and resist, till the next Marvel release.
Jun 22, 2018
Jun 22, 2018 at 3:11 AM UTC
Those who choose to dig deeper
must be willing to accept the dirt as truth
and the mess as proof
The only resolve is sharing tha loot
with those who seek not to be aloof
those who can recycle
improve reuse
Otherwise your pursuit becomes futile and vanity in roots
That holds you trapped in a place that never bore fruit.
Like a Pirate
Tied to a ship
who's sunken into
frozen winter drifts
Yelling at everyone who passes by
Uneffected Bitter Colder Less Productive
An Ivory Tusk Burned in private on public telivision
Mar 17, 2018
Mar 17, 2018 at 5:46 AM UTC