They almost had me believing in my freedom
They almost had me believing in my freedom
But I've always been a fugitive in this country
Marked by skin dark enough to be perversely
Advantageous to those who measure worth
By declaring their own whiteness as virtue
And my brownness as an existential threat.
Racism wasn't chic in the days of my youth;
Not like it was in this country's not so distant past
Where slurs, slights, and outright discrimination
Flourished under the umbrella of segregated Jim Crow.
But it is still being used by some over the years since
To control levels of access and acceptability of non-whites
In a white-dominated political system.
What becomes of a quest for national unity when
Our contributions in developing and reforming this nation
Are not acknowledged or reciprocated? Can we really put Aside our identifications with unique heritages and regard Ourselves as 'homogenized,' even as our needs are ignored
As the advancement of a person of color to the highest
Office in the land is openly disparaged by open racism?
My own first understandings of my place in this country
Came in the form of homilies seeking to assuage the scars
From generations of government enabled repression against
People who looked like me; perpetrated by people looking
Similar to the ones who had perpetuated the discrimination
Through countless generations of false superiority over others
They expected to labor like servants, without recompense.
Homilies about the 'content of my character' more important
Than the 'color of my skin,' delivered in the same breath as
Slanderous and hateful characterizations of my skin color
As a weapon intended to harm my oppressors as they worried
They might be subjected to the same dominating abuses at
The hands of the very human beings they had oppressed.
Those homilies were ingrained in me on the very same streets
Where Brett Kavanaugh grew up; the very same community
Where the Supreme Court justice partied until he was blackout drunk and raped a woman as he held her down.
The very same justice who decided to let Trump's Gestapo
Racially profile and abduct people based on their 'ethnicity,'
Surmising that the abomination of humanity would be 'brief.'
How would they identify a Somalian by just looking at them,
Other than by assuming their brown skin is determinative
of some transgression or criminality deserving of abuse?
How will they determine whether someone is a Haitian as
They accost them on the street and hustle them into their Unmarked vehicles like I can imagine the Klan did when
Racism was considered to be a performing a public service?
How does a nation of imperious leaders get the point where They arbitrarily rule that undocumented immigrants are a Drag on American society to the point where they allow the Ethnic cleansing of people who contributed approximately $96.7 Billion in taxes to the U.S. economy in 2022, claiming Their mere undocumented presence in this country is a threat To citizens who benefit from their labor and contribution?
Who are we, people of color? We Black, we Brown?
We the Egyptians. We the Portuguese. We the Sudanese; the Nubian; the Ashanti; the Mossi. We Arabs; we Spanish; wWe Indians; we Europeans; we Maya; we Aztec; we Olmec;
We the Moslem; we Muslim; we Nordic; we the Jastorf;
We Christian; we Buddhist; we the agnostic and the atheist.
We are all driven to roil tradition and unite, to prevent us
From isolating ourselves and our country into obscurity.
History in this country is rooted in slavery and oppression,
But in the search for the roots we sometimes find that the More we draw closer to our black identity, the more we seem To distance ourselves from broader America which insists our Community must necessarily be at odds with white Americans; unlearned from our tragic, repressive beginnings.
Their fear of me has turned them into predators; while my fear of their predation has made me a fugitive from a society where I am to be targeted and hunted down like a dangerous animal by government forces, which, actually represent the most pernicious threat we all face right now; not the brown Skin; accents; or any other characteristic which my former neighbor has allowed his nation's agents to regard as threats.
Fear of this oppressive government has also rendered me a Recluse, not willing to subject myself to encounters which I
Will never comply with; not under any circumstances, as I
Try to hold onto those notions of freedom that have been Repeatedly made false by those who would deny me my Rights, and by a government that encourages that tyranny
against me, my family, and against my fellow man.
I no longer believe in homilies about my place in the U.S. Because I'm still a fugitive by virtue of my brown skin; a
Fugitive in the eyes of a roving gang of government
Thugs armed and armored to 'briefly' deny me my
Rights of citizenship; all to effectuate a partisan government Program unsupported by the vast majority of Americans.
America regarded me as less than a citizen when I was born, And my dark skin has betrayed me to this tyranny ever since.
They almost had me believing in my freedom... almost.
-Ron
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