Willful Ignorance (for James Baldwin)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Willful Ignorance

The words of a great man

From a former generation

Haunt the white man’s world

With the weight of eternal history

And the depth of eternal knowledge

“If you can overcome the curtain of my color”

Then we can live in peace

If not we will be at war perpetually

A war like most wars that no one can win

“I want exactly what you want”

I want to be left alone

I want to walk the streets of America

Without fear of never returning

To my home

I want my children and theirs

To grow up in safe neighborhoods

Where kindness and wisdom thrive

Where hatred and brutality fail

“You will listen or you will perish”

And we will perish together

Like pigs in a pen

Like fools in a pool of madness

We are human beings

We are not bison or beavers

That you can hunt into extinction

We are not leaving

This is our land as much as yours

You brought us here as slaves

But we are free

We have won our freedom

And we will not yield equality

We are here to stay

Make peace with that reality

(respectfully for James Baldwin)

Killing Doctors in Moscow

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Killing Doctors in Moscow

We show mercy to the terminally ill

We shoot animals in pain

They let doctors die in Russia

For telling the truth in vain

A doctor takes a solemn oath

To treat the sick and do no harm

When you witness dangerous situations

You have a duty to raise alarm

But the Kremlin thinks its surrounded

By a bubble of immunity

If they keep it all a secret

It does not hit your own community

It doesn’t matter where you’re from

Or where you practice your occupation

You deserve respect and common decency

From the leaders of your nation

So cry now for Moscow

And let your tears flow

The image of a proud nation

Falls to the one we know

It Ain't Over

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

It Ain’t Over

You can’t end a war with a fantasy

You can’t tell a virus to cease and desist

You can’t halt death with a snap of your fingers

You can’t stop a storm with a wish

Did you think it would all disappear

If you said there was nothing to fear?

Did you believe it would go away

If you commanded it not to stay?

When we were bright eyed kids

And the world was ours to declare

We could pick up our marbles and leave

If we thought the game wasn’t fair

But those days are forever gone

We now face the fate we’ve earned

When we pour fuel on a fire

We know we will get burned

You can’t stop the sun from rising

You can’t stop the sea with a prayer

You can’t stop an eagle from flying

You can’t stop disease with a dare

It ain’t over till it’s over

New York Breakdown

RANDOM POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

New York Breakdown

Brutality on the streets of New York

Betrayal of the public trust

The shining beacon on an island

Has gone from boom to bust

New York we love you

But you’re beating us down *

The city of enlightenment

City of dreams now broken

And scattered into a million

Little pieces on bloodied ground

When the pandemic smashed into you

Like the first wave of a tsunami

We turned to you in admiration

We looked to you for salvation

We held you up for inspiration

We felt for you and prayed

Now you revert to political form

And blame the beaten

For being bruised

New York we love you

But you will be forsaken

After centuries of injustice

It’s time to awaken

[* LCD Soundsystem:

New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down]

Lockdown Pennsylvania Avenue

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Lockdown Pennsylvania Avenue

With the impeachment trial

An enemies list

Disdain for lawful protest

Rejection of civil rights

And disregard for civil liberties

The horrors of the day

Recall the reign of Tricky Dick

Who resigned in disgrace

But it was LBJ who hunkered down

In the Oval Office

Locked down in the White House

While an army of vocal protesters

Camped out beyond the fence

And refused to leave

LBJ ended his reign under siege

In an act of common decency

To spare the nation further pain

He refused to seek a second term

Acknowledged nothing more to gain

If only this president

Had the decency of LBJ

He would step down and fade away

But he is neither Nixon nor LBJ

He’s under lockdown behind razor wire

In the fortress on Pennsylvania Avenue

Alone and despondent

He knows now he couldn’t make the grade

He curses ghosts in the darkness

Lashes out at those he sees

Devolves into madness

Issuing his decrees

Johnson escalated Vietnam

Nixon doubled down

But neither put our troops

On American ground

Not Enough

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Not Enough

Justice calling with charges of

Second degree murder

Aiding and abetting

A first and second step

Toward peace

Not enough

Remove them from the force

And all their collaborators

End the conspiracy of silence

Review every case

The dirty cops ever touched

Compensate their victims

And free the abused

Put them behind bars

And ask how they like it now

Still not enough

Rebuild the inner cities

The westsides the eastsides

From the ground up

Provide decent housing

And living wages

An end to homelessness

And mass incarceration

Restore voting rights

Healthcare for all

Not enough

It will never be enough

Until the hearts and minds of all

Are altered at the core

It will never be enough

Until every bad cop

Is relieved of duty

Now and forever

It will not be enough

Until cops go to jail

For crimes committed

Behind the badge

Beneath the cover of darkness

It will never be enough

Until people of color

Can walk down the streets

Without fear of the color blue

Vampires of Protest

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Vampires of Protest

Looters and instigators

Thieves and agitators

Brick throwers and manipulators

Leeches and parasites

Vampires of protest

Who hide out in the daylight

And only come out at night

Bloodsuckers feeding

On righteous indignation

The poison well of exploitation

Poised to march and ready to fight

But the vampires only

Come out at night

Justice seekers hit the streets

Day after day soldiers of light

To change what’s wrong

And uphold what’s right

A cause subverted by

Losers and lowlifes

A disgusting sight

They only come out at night

Insurrection

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Insurrection

The uprising begins

The insurrection is upon us

Soldiers march on the streets of America

Our own against our own

Mounted police in the nation’s capital

Batons riot sticks and pepper spray

Facing down peaceful protesters

In the glaring light of day

The eyes of the world are watching

The earth bears witness to this offense

The official deployment of brutality

Against the right of the people to speak

The president declares insurrection

Swears an oath to beat them down

Like rabid dogs without homes

Put them in their rightful place

Restore law and order

As only brutes and monarchs can

Remember Kent State

Remember Ohio

Remember Jackson State

Remember Berkeley Square

The president declares war

On his own people

And we know how it ends

Someone must die

To appease the king

And uphold the lie

Of justice in America

Good People on Both Sides

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Good People

Some words never fade

They stick in your mind

Where you don’t want to look

And wait for a reckoning

A moment of clarity

When finally as if by magic

It all makes sense

Good people on both sides

Neo Nazis and civil rights protesters

Swastikas against peace symbols

Advocacy against insults

Reason against threats

Resistance against aggression

A woman crushed for taking a stand

Good people on both sides

A man killed for being black

Good people and bad apples

As the nation explodes in rage

Our president yields to silence

Except to encourage violence

Nothing against the racist extreme

Nothing against the white supreme

Blame it on antifa: the anti-fascists

Blame it on the leftist scourge

Get tough against the mob

Good people on both sides

Nothing about the man who died

Nothing to heal the nation’s divide

Nothing but MAGA pride

Good people on our side

The others are all terrorists

You know what we do with terrorists

Lock em up!

Crush em like cockroaches!

Stuff em in a cage!

Teach em a lesson they’ll take

To the grave!

Some words never fade

Some folks never change

Some are elected president

To remind us of our shame

Burning Down Your Own House

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Burning Down Your Own House

Rage has no direction

It radiates like reflective light

You’re angry at the man

You’re angry at the world

Righteous anger is understood

But don’t burn down your hood

 

Been going on since the dawn of time

And nothing ever changes

We pretend to understand there’s a

Disease that infects the nation

But as time goes by we realize

It’s just another initiation

 

Our hearts grow cold and bitter

Our voices silent as a mouse

Anger burrows but it doesn’t help

To burn down your own damn house

 

The time will come as come it must

To turn the world around

Murder by the men in blue must end

It can’t be tolerated

The vast conspiracy of white silence

Must be terminated

 

It’s hard to wait another minute

But you know it does no good

To burn down the house of justice

When it’s in your neighborhood

Outside Agitators

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Outside Agitators

At the end of the trail

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Stands with pride for his people

Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride

MLK sits in a Birmingham jail

And writes that justice is the rightful

Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march

Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers

Of Solano and Bakersfield

To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road

Steinbeck looks out across the great

Fields of plenty and proclaims the right

Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign

To win final passage of the ERA

Bella Abzug declares that the age of

Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day

Leaders rise to the occasion

To calm a divided nation

To ease our collective pain

To bring us together

(if only for a moment)

To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage

Our president wonders aloud

If he can send his opponents to jail

If he can outlaw voting by mail

If he can order soldiers to crush

Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis

Leaders answer the call

Pretenders fall

Leadership in a Time of Crisis

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD / CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Leadership

At the end of the trail

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Stands with pride for his people

Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride

MLK sits in a Birmingham jail

And writes that justice is the rightful

Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march

Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers

Of Solano and Bakersfield

To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road

Steinbeck looks out across the great

Fields of plenty and proclaims the right

Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign

To win final passage of the ERA

Bella Abzug declares that the age of

Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day

Leaders rise to the occasion

To calm a divided nation

To ease our collective pain

To bring us together

(if only for a moment)

To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage

Our president wonders aloud

If he can send his opponents to jail

If he can outlaw voting by mail

If he can order soldiers to crush

Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis

Leaders answer the call

Pretenders fall

Up in Flames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Up in Flames

When flames broke out in Minneapolis

The soul of a nation caught fire

It might have been the world

From Moscow to Madrid

From Israel to Istanbul

From Panama to Paris

From Lisbon to London

Primed and ready to explode

Like that long forgotten summer

When Watts went up in flames

And the westside of every town

From San Diego to the coast of Maine

Balanced on the edge of eruption

Held their breaths

And waited

Strike a flint and watch it burn

People cannot hold in place

So long without giving way

Without finding some release

Without setting off a chain reaction

That reaches from the smallest village

To the vast metropolis of LA

Like that summer of 68

When the students of Paris

Claimed the streets demanding

Fundamental change

The authorities didn’t understand

They don’t understand today

We have reached a tipping point

We stand on the precipice

Of total cataclysmic destruction

There is no mother that doesn’t smell it

There is no father that does not sweat

The powder keg is filled to brimming

And no one is beyond the reach

Of its destructive pull

May cooler calmer heads prevail

May poets and preachers carry the day

This is not a time for vengeance

It is a time for common cause

A time for human kindness to rise

And unchecked anger to subside

We are all in this together

Heart to heart mind to mind

We are all in this together

And together we must find

A way out of this bind

Protest in a Time of Pandemic

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Protest in a Time of Pandemic

The masses gather on the streets

Oblivious to the times

Rage surrounded by anger

Calls for justice shouts of indignation

Fear and fury grips the nation

They believe they’ve been granted immunity

By the righteousness of their cause

And the oppression of their community

The masses form a mob and push

A swirling wall of outrage

Chanting slogans waving signs

Demonstrating their despair

All while breathing toxic air

Swarming like disturbed hornets

Throwing elbows resisting calm

Taunting fingers seeking cover

Taking hits and shedding tears

While the cops exploit their fear

The gas swallows them whole

As they rush for shelter and affirm

A pledge of tribal unity

The right to gather in protest

The right to be heard

The right to live free and clear

May one day become

The right to die for your conviction

Some wore masks

Some did not

Some sought distance

Most forgot

Is it fair to ask

How many will die

For this one man’s brutal killing?