America declared its independence from British dependence,
But continues to depend on hating the other and
Hate has always been and will always be about fear
How ironic that America was instituted by members of the other
That is other than the indigenous natives of the Americas
fleeing persecution for being the other in their homelands…
Only to persecute the natives and project “the other” identify upon them
What is the American “value” system
Other than “systemic” racial suppression?
A questionable choice to uphold
Despotic ideologies of white supremacy!
To choose to demonize and otherize the marginalized
Without accounting for the margins of error in judgement of the ostracized.
Who’s casting the stones?
The silent and the complacent
for through your silence,
Imposing imperialists have garnered your consent.
Don’t be a voiceless puppet and voice your dissent!
Reacquaint yourself with your history
Reaffirm your contributions to humanity
Do NOT let colonial dictators dictate your story!
For it was “the others” who built this country
This American land of freedom and liberty?!
The enslaved Africans,
The FIRST known civilization in human history
Who toiled and sowed the earth only to reap
Inequality and brutality.
The indigenous American Indians:
The original “founding fathers”
Initially labeled “savages”
Unfit to inhabit American lands
They already cultivated for over 10,000 years,
That is longer than the Europeans were in Europe!
Only to coincide with European tribal genocide…
Later a great lot would succumb to suicide!
The Asians who built the transcontinental railroad
Connecting the east to the American west only to be deemed
Unworthy dog and cat eating slobs
who threaten white American jobs…
Now that pejorative has been projected onto Haitians from Haiti,
the once RICHEST country in the Americas,
Whose monetary fluency France used to supplement
The American fight for liberation under the toe of British oppression
Les Chasseurs Volontaires D’haiti,
The Volunteer Chasers from Haiti
Who chased the Brits from Savannah, Georgia
The largest group of fighters of African descent
WERE the Haitians now immortalized through a monument for posterity.
All the enslaved Africans who quite literally
“Built” America are ALL worthy of human dignity.
For it was Afro-Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste DuSable
Who was the “founding father” of Chicago!
Cut from the cloth of the same persecuted people
Who are now being branded as “dog and cat eaters”
To supplement the cause of socio-politico fearmongers…
What is the American “value” system?
Besides “systemic” racial suppression and
Despotic “values” and ideologies of White Supremacy?
Bearing in mind that “hate” is NOT a “value”.
It is the narrative of “fear” from the oligarchy!
[Previously published in Wilderness House Literary Review]
*Please Note: Inspired by Guardian Scapegoating article on Asians and Haitians eating pets
Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian American Poet, Educator, Author of four books and a literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest publication “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of Wyoming, Askews and Holts Library Services in the United Kingdom, The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Amazon etc… He has been published in prestigious publications such as Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Litterateur Redefining World anthologies out of India, Poets Reading the News, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at: http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.
