Poetry

Poem #1 - Untitled

Black, White, Latinx, Asian
All a part of something bigger than themselves
None of them ever fully understand each other's story.
Stories that define them,
That shapes who they are and where they come from.
Their histories and struggles that go back hundreds of years,
And still continue to this day.

Racism, discrimination, and so much more.
Not only happening in the United States but
In all of the world.
How messed up is that?

But you know something else messed up?
Is that only the last year, an anti-lynching bill signed by President Joe Biden
Came into play.
The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Law.
Why couldn't that have been made before?

What if it was?
So many lives could have been saved,
So many perspectives changed,
So many what ifs.

But that's not how it went down.
Because that's just not how the world works.

History is built on the backs of slaves
And no white American wants to stand up and say
"Yeah we did that."
People are afraid to except the truth,
But that doesn't mean it'll just disappear.

It'll always be there,
On every corner and every street.
Everpresent,
Despite efforts to quash it.

We are all haunted by the ghosts of our pasts,
But it is the ghosts of history that we must communicate with
And try to understand what happened and how can we work to make sure
It will never happen again.

People say, "What can we do?" or "How can we help?"
And when given an answer, they promise to go out
And change the world and make it better.

But instead the world becomes polluted with broken promises.
And racism continues,
Riots ensue.
History repeats itself over and over
And over.

To quote Frank Sinatra,
"That's Life".

But it doesn't have to be.
We need to start educating ourselves and others
On the raw truth of the unspoken stories of oppressed voices
So that one day all of their stories will be out in the world.

We can never fully understand what other people have been through,
And the struggles they have faced.
The only thing we can do is listen, learn, and educate.

And we can change the world.
So why don't we?