Tag Archives: profiling

Curmudgeonly

Curmudgeonly, that is me I fear

I swore I would not become my parents loud and clear

I would not criticize the music I hear

Clothes, the hair, nor all they hold dear

~

But I lied or failed does it really matter much

I don’t understand rap, hip hop, electronic dance and such

Pants low with boxers high held up by belt buckle clutch

Publicly grabbing crotch with not the gentlest of touch

~

More critical of the guys than the girls I have found

Cars with whiny mufflers, where’s the glass-pack rumbling sound

Trucks that can’t pick-up cause they’re lowered to the ground

I guess its finally happened what goes around comes around

~

I’m trying my best to break out of this mold

Being more accepting as I so adamantly told

Judging by appearance is a form of profiling bold

Isn’t it bizarre how we transform as we grow old

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

AUTHOR’S NOTE: These are just a few observations about myself that honestly, I find embarrassing since I promised myself from an early age that I would not succumb to this type of thinking, but to one degree or another I have.  I am working hard to change my mindset so we will have to see where that goes, but I’m sure that at least some of you can relate.

Prejudice in the 21st Century

You look on appalled and concerned

Just as I look at you.

Maybe he’s out for walk,

Bird watching,

Enjoying the sun or the weather.

Oh no, that can not be,

We haven’t seen him before!

Where did he come from?

Where is he going?

He must be up to no good.

Casing the joint,

Looking to rob us,

Rape our women,

Set fire to our homes,

Surely he must be a criminal,

He does not belong here!

But why incredulous?

He doesn’t look like us,

His type doesn’t live in this neighborhood.

He’s the wrong color,

Certainly he must be muslim

Or gay,

Or dealing drugs to our kids

And hates this country.

This is the twenty-first century,

Haven’t we moved beyond our prejudice?

Shamefully…

No!

Hateful glances say no,

Joblessness says no,

Homelessness says no,

Hearts and minds say no,

Ignorance still exists,

The year,

The decade,

The century matters not.

In correctness some bite their tongues,

But their medieval minds dictate.

Thoughts expressed through actions,

Conversations held in the shadows,

The like-minded nodding in approval.

So little have we progressed,

Claims of enlightenment ring hollow.

Baseless assumptions poisoning us,

Fear used as justification,

Repetition brainwashing the ignorant.

When will it end,

This perpetuation of hate,

Cloaked as patriotism, religion,

Our constitutional right?

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Unwelcome To Our Shores

Burqa, Dashiki, headscarf, turban,

Clothing nor traditions should fear instill.

Forgetting we are children of the melting pot,

Sprawling roots of Sicily, Belfast, Juarez, Berlin,

Many smaller port-of-call,

Spat on by bigots,

Held in contempt.

Amnesia plagued memory lost their father’s land,

Nothing has been learned o’er these many years,

Only the quarry has changed,

The slurs, the stares, the vindictive wit,

Disparate but analogous,

Yet none-the-less degrading.

Unwelcoming the huddled masses with open arms,

Seeing terror in every foreign face,

Like fools believing the rhetoric,

Stereotyping and profiling,

Demonizing difference.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Profiling – A Haiku

Image Credit: aclu.org

Image Credit: aclu.org

Racial profiling

Race, creed or color…so what

We all bleed when cut

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~