Saturday, July 2, 2022

the boy with his false beard and stovepipe hat

I memorized the Gettysburg address

And recited Lincoln’s words on stage

In a school play when I was cast as him

Performed when I was nine years old


Uncertain why but proud that I was selected

To make a speech for liberty and equality

Praising a government of the people

By the people and for the people


Naively thinking that was the reality

Sure that was the way things should be

Knowing nothing about Jim Crow oppression

Or the ongoing Cold War Witch Hunt


Every day saluting and pledging allegiance

The same as today in every classroom

While we were captive listeners to prayers

That once again have become the law of the land


Looking back now I wonder about my teacher

Whether this play was her version of wokeness

What the reactionaries today call indoctrination

That she slipped past the McCarthyites


Given what I learned later of the country I grew up in

This is not the democracy I was led to believe in

But the fair treatment ethos instilled in me then

Stayed with me as a passion for social justice


The boy with the false beard and stovepipe hat

Grew up wanting those fine words to be true

Dismayed by the betrayal of the promises made

Again and again to generation after generation


Liberty and justice for all has never existed

And no matter who gets elected

As long as business continues as usual 

Nothing fundamental changes