Tag Archives: prejudice

Words Escape

Words escape,

Seeming pale and miniscule.

What to say would never be enough–

I’m sorry, immediately comes to mind.

Gone before your time,

How different might things have been

Or maybe nothing would have changed at all.

Narrow-mindedness and prejudice

Cannot be cured with words or pills.

Sadly your dream has still not been realized.

There are those that claim your struggle to be ancient history,

That you are equal, that you got everything you wanted.

This bile comes from the mouths of fools.

Why should any of this have been necessary,

In the eyes of God were you not always equal?

Why should you have had to be given anything,

Were not your rights endowed by the Lord God?

Only man–in his need to subjugate

Would be so arrogant as to play the Almighty!

This day of remembrance has not opened the eyes of many,

They find it a frivolous and inconvenient interruption.

Capitalism goes on with nary a missed step,

As profits never take a holiday,

How sad and disrespectful this is.

Dearest Dr. King, I am so terribly sorry.

There are no excuses for the tragedy of your death.

There are no excuses for the racism and ignorance that persists.

There are no excuses for your unfulfilled dream.

Thank God your words still resonate,

Thank God your message is still oft repeated,

For one day maybe the scourge that exists amongst us will die,

Turning your dream of so long ago

Into the reality that it was always destined to be.

God Bless You Dr. Martin Luther King

And with profound sadness,

I wish you a Happy Birthday.


~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

What Color is Blood

What color is blood?

Red as crimson to the dullest eye.

When stripped of skin,

What is left but muscle, sinew, bone

Held together by a thin designer suit.

At birth we enter the world the same way.

At death we return the earth each the same.

Why is it that we vandalize each other

Throwing names, bullets and missiles,

Destroying our sacred selves?

More alike than different is the human animal,

Though ego prefers to separate.

Look beyond the skin in all its wondrous glory,

Reach for the soul deep within

Dismissing the prejudice of our senses.

Honor our sameness in peace and love

Remembering the wisdom of the sanskrit greeting

…Namaste’.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Perhaps Armageddon Has Finally Come

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 ~~

 

So Prim And Proper

So prim and proper
Appearance–polished marble
Hiding their hatred
What darkness lurks underneath
Only God in Heaven knows
Ever so scary
Is man’s deceptive facade
Disguising his evil
Making those you think you know
Perhaps your worst enemy

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

We Live In A Time Of Paranoia And Prejudice

We live in a time of paranoia and prejudice,

Danger lurking around every corner,

Evil in strangers faces we pass on the street.

Every act of senseless violence is labeled terrorism,

Can not a murder just be a murder?

Despicable as it is this act has transcended our history.

Must religious affiliation define every murderous act?

Must every act of violence be by the hands of a terrorist?

Vigilance is indeed prudent

Though hypervigilance is divisive.

This world if full of people with mental instability.

Those disillusioned by their circumstances.

Many feeling small or invisible

Seeking attention by the most horrible means.

Christians and Jews are among them

Though they are not so quickly label terrorists.

Our government is in collusion with the media

Spreading fear and hysteria, but to what end?

Perhaps to convince us to willingly forfeit our freedoms

All under the guise of greater protection.

Just realize that once gone

Freedoms lost will be difficult to recapture.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

‘Tis Not The Fragrant Flower I Once Knew

‘Tis not the fragrant flower I once knew,

Pleasing to the senses,

Brightening the world with her effervescent palette.

Her silky petals crumble, fragile to the touch,

Falling like toxic ash in the putrid air.

She pollutes the earth that feeds her,

Poisoning her waters making them non potable.

Oh how her beautiful bouquet has mutated,

Turning ugly and angry in the midst of the garden.

Those not of her kind are suffocated as weeds,

Trampled, then pulled out by their roots.

Intolerant and hateful she has become,

The prick of her thorns has turned fatal.

Her beauty, now masticated by selfishness

Sets her on a path to destruction.

No longer prized, no longer admired,

She will be turned as mulch–

Into the soil from whence she came.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Segregating Ourselves

Republican, democrat,

Black, white,

Feminist, chauvinist,

Gay, straight,

Religious, atheist,

Liberal, conservative,

Pacifist, warmonger,

Proletariat, capitalist,

Pro-life, pro-choice,

Rich, poor,

Extremist, moderate,

Old, young,

Patriotic, unpatriotic,

Native, immigrant,

We spend so much time segregating ourselves into categories,

That we forget we are all the same.

We are born, we live and then we die,

This is non-negotiable.

Maybe if took the time to walk in our brother’s shoes

We would be less hurried to take vengeance

And this world would be a more peaceful and beautiful place.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Erasure (Acrostic)

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 ~~

 

Lest We Forget Him

Lest we forget him

Michael Brown finally rests

But the fight goes on

His family still in mourning

Must live a life without him

This is a disgrace

As a nation we should weep

Drowning in our tears

Not for Ferguson alone

But for ourselves and country

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

With Tears I Say Goodbye

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.