To the editors:
It’s not star-spangled beauty, to me.
The harshness of the shell, the emitting of a crude smell, the pandering of souls not living to tell; reality in the United States, all over the world — hell! It is 2016, and many in my generation have seen a few things but never these deliberate, downright sickening, murderous — shot-in-full-sight — lynchings.
Day after day, the realities are in plain view. People of color fighting to stand a chance, fighting to live another day to dance, fighting to continue to believe in this false-taught freedom! A fallacious romance! Born into this country our minds so believed and our souls grieved as we sang freely — oh say can we see!
What we can see, is that in the dawn’s early light, of this 21st century, men aren’t hanging in trees as decorated strange fruit but lain, blood drained, in the stained street beneath, trigger happy, nervous, emotionally driven, blue code — hell bent — to snatch the twilight from the eyes and smile of the last gleaming big dude, thug, black male!
The pain will forever reign down over us, for there are far too many years that carry stench of the ashes formed from the burned down homes and the land of those of our ancestors; carried from their great land to become second-rated, enslaved, berated, beaten, raped and bi-racially mixed-up.
Black folks over stand while white folks misunderstand what they choose to stand under! This is not a play on words, this is truth. Thirteenth, 14th, 15th … come on count them with me … 16th, 17th and 18th-century slave made, slave made, slave made, the slave trade! Stolen, thrown over, stench ridden, disease infected, made to feel nothing, made to shame self, made to care not much about anything else but making it through.
Six-hundred years of bullying and some folk have the nerve to say get over it! How dare you think that this does not resonate from one generation to the next? If you are wondering what is going on before your eyes, don’t. Let history tell its true story.
This generation of trigger happy pale skin in blue code is afraid and seeking the days when told that life was all about white lives, and black lives didn’t matter. It is a revolution in motion, so don’t be surprised by the unrest and protest.
It isn’t about equality, it is about live and let live, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for Black! All Beautiful Black Lives Matter! To sing a song so happily that to this day, does not resonate among all of the people, of every race; particularly the Black race; I will not, oh say can I see anything, by no one’s dawn early light, or be proud to hail that a flag stood in the distance of anywhere, because that star-spangled banner never had any intentions of setting my people free! It’s been a setup ever since the signing of the 13th.
T. Woods
Oklahoma City
(Editor’s Note: NonDoc believes in creating a responsible forum for the rational and respectful discussion of topics and ideas. As such, we run Letters to the Editors of 300 words and reserve the right to edit lightly for style and grammar. To submit a letter for potential publication, please write to letters@nondoc.com.)
