Injustice lives on
Made evident by our courts
Poverty and racism feed its hunger
Until blood is spilled to satisfy
Nothing changes, civil rights are a myth
Insinuated to please the skeptics
Then in one fell swoop
Yet another innocent dies with no justice served
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Reviled in the public’s eye
Acknowledged in back alleys and darkened rooms
Color, race and creed are offered up as fodder
In this election year repulsiveness has reared its head
Staining our image in the eyes of the world
Maybe this was the ugly secret we needed to keep hidden
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Our tide, in great waves rolls out,
Back to a dark and murky ocean.
So long we have struggled to crawl from the slime
To a place of light and enlightenment in this New World.
Holding up the Statue of Liberty as a sign of hope,
As a sign of our lust for freedom and equality,
We are showered in a torrent of our own hypocrisy.
There are brothers and sisters among us
That still struggle for whole-hearted inclusion.
Cast to the fringes they are ostracized and criticized
For their God-instilled proclivities.
As men, who are we to be judge and jury of our peers,
This was not ordained upon us by the Creator!
Time and again we wander this rocky treacherous road
Seeking to impose man’s prejudices upon men.
Would Christ whom you hold so dear have been this cold,
Tossing his brethren out into the desert?
You dredge up this muck with arrogance under the guise of freedom
Plotting all the time to shackle others for your cause.
Put yourself in your adversaries shoes,
Do they not feel worn out and ragged?
Early in this twenty first century I was optimistic,
Hopeful that common sense and compassion would prevail,
But now I am left disgusted and embarrassed.
Is this what America has devolved into,
A nation of oppression, prejudice and inequality
Based on twisted interpretations of God?
A travesty we have become…indeed!
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Insanity rules in our narrow world
No one is safe, especially men of color
Justice is clearly for the chosen
Undermining all that we hold sacred
Slaughter at the hands of those charged to protect
Time and again goes unpunished
Ideologues believe us civilized
Constantly calling for calm
Entrusting their fates to this broken system
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
There is no relief
No solace in the system
When trust is broken
Right or wrong we all have lost
By virtue of this verdict
A public trial
Witnesses in open court
Would this have been wrong
Perhaps, but we’ll never know
Case closed…
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Perhaps armageddon has finally come
Ferguson knows this all too well.
Do not be fooled–justice hasn’t been done
Though the politicians try to hard sell.
Claiming that the process has properly worked
Cries the President down to the prosecution.
Their responsibilities so blatantly shirked
It’s sad to think that this is the solution.
Corporate media you are largely to blame,
Yes you, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News!
Refusing to hang your guilty heads in shame
You planted the bomb then lit the fuse.
In the end you got just what you wanted,
That sound bite and graphic video clip.
Those agitators you shamelessly taunted
Full team coverage that never has slipped.
Still in the end a young man lies dead,
His parents still mourning their loss.
Long after you turn your cameras and fled
Forgetting your actions have costs.
And you men of justice with the law on your side
You’ve failed at the tasks we entrust.
Behind the grand jury with deception you hide,
Your verdicts in our faces you thrust.
So tell me what’s fair in this game that you play
Using the media to determine outcome.
It’s wrong and you know it no matter what you may say
While at our heads you are holding a gun.
You get what you give in this violent game
Though I wish that it wasn’t to be so.
So pin to your chests that badge of true blame
Donning makeup for the cameras next show.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Erased–blood stains and voices
Roadway washed clean by rain
Anger and outrage quelled
Silenced by media’s waning interest
Under the ground in which he’s buried roots still grow
Racism–spreading like crabgrass
Eviscerating the people of justice.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
With tears I say goodbye
Though I do not know your pain,
Nor the pain of your ancestors
Inflicted at the hands of those that look like me.
When I look in the mirror
I am not proud,
I am not proud of our past,
Not proud of of our inhumanity,
Not proud of the picture our hands are painting.
With a broad brush,
We paint in your blood,
Red and warm as mine
Though left to dry cold in the streets.
We stand around,
As if awaiting applause,
While your spirit fades,
Showing just how little we care.
I know this is not me,
Though I know you can’t see it;
And that these words are just words
Unable to bring you back from the dead.
Your family grieves,
But their grief is overshadowed,
Trampled down under the weight of constant diversions
Portraying you as something less than human.
Yet none of this matters!
Injustice cannot hide forever
Behind an iron blue citadel
Mortared with lies, racism and hatred.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
AUTHORS NOTE: I was not going to write another piece about the tragedy in Ferguson Missouri today, but I find Michael Browns’s death so troubling that I couldn’t help myself. His death in my eyes shows that racism still runs rampant in this country though many of us would prefer not to admit it. For those that would like to pretend this never happened, I think it is time you opened your eyes. Explain to me how being stopped for jaywalking could escalate to the point where a young man is shot six times and killed, then left alone in the street for so long. This is completely beyond my comprehension.
Imperfect system
Still, it is better than most
Even when it fails
Of little consolation
To the living or the dead
~~ Dominic DiFrancesco ~~
Anger–you can see it on their grimaced faces;
Marching, hands raised in civil defiance.
Neither curfew nor militarization will quell them
In the face of injustice.
What passes for authority tries to divert,
Maybe he took the “sweets”, maybe he didn’t,
Maybe he smoked a little weed,
Maybe jaywalking is a capital crime in the south,
Maybe murder is ignored when hidden behind a badge.
So much for civil rights,
So much for equality under the law,
So much for compassion and common decency.
He was eighteen and unarmed,
Of this there is no dispute!
Perhaps he wasn’t an angel…are any of us?
I have bent the law,
Maybe even broken it a time or two,
But I’m still here, breathing, smiling, growing older.
We can deny–
That racism exists,
We can deny–
That blacks are treated differently than whites,
We can deny–
That skin color matters,
But denial doesn’t make it so!
Changing laws do not change hearts,
And time does not necessarily heal…
These are irrefutable facts.
Behind closed doors we disrobe,
Taking off our suit of political correctness,
To reveal naked hate.
We spew the epithets of our fathers,
Who broke the backs of an unwilling immigrant.
It’s as though times have never changed…
And perhaps they haven’t.
The manacles once of iron are now invisible,
The whips of braided leather no longer leave scars,
But the pain, fear and displacement still exists
…In this twenty-first century.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 