Leah Mockridge
Domestic destruction
Detonation
Dehumanization
People are breathing their last breaths
But we will call it
“Civilian casualty”
Bullets ringing like bells through the air
Bones cracking like the whips we have “long since” retired
A terrorist without the skin tone
Or the turban
Is called
“troubled”
We keep the death toll
Like keeping score
Pointing fingers
But never at home team
The flag is colored
Red with our blood
White like our hateful pride
And blue like our sorrow
And yet you boo when people kneel
Seeing them pushed down by the weight of the injustices we perpetuate
Pisses you off
Because people died for that flag
Like the unnamed slaves-turned-soldiers
Who never had a choice when bullets littered their backs
Dying for a country they didn’t ask to be in
The taking knees
Doesn’t honor that proud history
It doesn’t fit the status quo
The picture of
America the brave
And home of the free(d)
The freedom of speech
Our favorite card to play
Until someone has something important to say
So build the wall ten feet higher
We gave children dreams
now we ship back the dreamers
To a land they never dreamt of
Ten feet higher
We shot unarmed kids in the back
Blaming the bullet
Not the blue who pulled the trigger
Ten feet higher
We marched with swastikas held high
Alt-right
Neo Nazi
No, sorry
“White Pride”
Ten feet higher
Add a foot for every black life that didn’t matter enough
Add a foot for every white rapist that walked free
Add a foot for every family ripped apart
Add a foot for every terrorist that came from inside this country
Add a foot for every hate crime left unnoticed
Add a foot for every transgender person who can no longer serve
Add a foot for every life we could’ve saved in Puerto Rico
Add a foot for all the injustices that will never be addressed
Red with blood
The flag is red with the blood we wiped from our hands.
Pay attention
Be aware
Be angry