by greeen
july 4 2022
today’s mass shooting
takes place in highland park illinois
at the independence day parade
where a crowd gathers
with lawn chairs and strollers
along sunny suburban streets
to celebrate
america
a nation where
failed insurrectionists
who sought presidential pardons
still occupy seats in congress
a nation where
corporations are people
money is speech
and the legal right
to a livable planet
has yet to be established
a nation where
police officers stand by
outside
unlocked classroom doors
while yet another school shooter
slaughters children
and teachers
a nation where
there’s a mass shooting
every day
because there’s always some dude
with a gun
who is so incapable
of handling his fear
and rage
and pain
that he justifies
inflicting
those feelings
on the bodies
of other
people
with
bullets
a nation where
the supreme court says
it’s in the second amendment
the right to a gun
in nearly every hand
that wants one
so what can you do
a nation where
after 50 years
of abortion access
if you have a uterus
and you're pregnant
and you live in the wrong state
and can’t afford to travel
you had better give birth
or else
a nation where
religious zealots
storm the mic
at town halls
and school board meetings
wielding traditional gender
norms
as a weapon
vilifying gender-fluid
children and families
for wanting to be
who they are
and love who they love
without fear
a nation where
anti-trans hysteria
is so revved up
you’d think trans people are
at least half of
“what's wrong with america”
the other half of course
being black people
who want their votes to count
a nation founded
in genocide
and built on the labor of
enslaved people
where
despite lip service to
tribal sovereignty
and racial equality
white folk still wave
their superiority complex
in the air
wherever they go
demonstrating
how it cuts
a nation where
members of the cult
of whiteness
and the christianity
that accompanies it
have embarked again on
the creation
of a fake heaven on earth
a pale, patriarchal america
in which teaching
factual american history
to children
in schools
is outlawed
because the depth of racism
in that history
and in particular
the depth of anti-black
brutality
and discrimination
embedded in the land
and the laws
might give white kids
a bad feeling
a nation where
even today
police
shoot an unarmed man
over 60 times
then handcuff
his limp body
beat a young father
to death
in the street
less than 300 feet
from his mother's house
as he calls out
to her
you don't need me
to tell you
the color of his skin
***
it’s almost like they want it this way
the brokers who orchestrated
today’s america
like they want us to be afraid
of each other
of The Law
of the guns
you know
freedom and justice
were never meant for everyone
freedom
has always been contingent
is
always
contingent
that’s what
weapons
are for
© 2022-2023 greeen