America – We need to talk!
America you need to listen to me!
I do not think you are being honest!
You are meant to be leading the free world!
What on earth is going wrong?
America, you are making me feel sick.
I worry about you.
You’ve become fake news.
You’ve lost all belief
Except in superstition and guns.
What is all this Deep State nonsense anyway?
America, you need to get your act together!
You are making a mess of things
And pissing off your friends.
America, do you really believe a billionaire
Cares about the poor.
Isn’t it obvious that he is using you?
America, I despair.
The beauty of your country is tainted.
You have become mean-minded, squalid
Violent, ugly and divided.
Whatever happened to your dream?
America, you were born out of ugliness,
Out of genocide and slavery,
But do you teach that in your schools?
Do you tell the real story of the Native Americans
And Africans?
Will you ever make amends?
America, why do you put butchers, warmongers
And slave owners on pedestals?
Why not artists and poets?
America, does this reflect your values?
America, I want you to listen.
Are you really the land of the free?
Is there freedom in the ghettos?
In working all hours to scratch a living?
In having no rights?
In being abused and used?
America, you have a strange idea of freedom.
Or is freedom something just for the wealthy minority?
America, where is your sense of fun?
Where’s the Jazz and Blues?
The Rock ‘n’ Roll?
The Black and White fusion?
America, are you heading back to the bad old days
Of lynching, of racism and slaves?
Do you really want walls?
Can you be happy with such gross inequality?
America, are you really letting the wealthy and powerful
Call all the shots?
America, I think it’s time you took your head out of the sand
And decided what sort of country you want to build;
An inclusive place or one built on division and hate.
America, I despair.
You are not being fair.
You’ve lost your direction.
America, you need to take a long hard look at yourself!
Are your schools educating
Or are you running on blind faith?
Are you all getting health-care
Or is it the survival of the richest?
Are you a country of opportunity?
Or a country of privilege?
Where did things go wrong America?
America, I am your friend, but you worry me.
Opher – 31.7.2020
I look at the political division being actively promoted and used by Trump and it is sickening.
Those divisions were always there – exacerbated by the North/South divide, by ignorance, religious superstition, poor education and the John Wayne mentality.
At times it feels as if America is permanently stuck in the Wild West where everything is solved with a gun, the bible is read daily (and used when needed but basically ignored), the good guys wear white, the bad guys wear black, injuns are savages and blacks are slaves.
But this is the 21st century and we know that things are a million miles away from that. There is no black and white, just shades of grey. The Native America culture was superior in many ways – particularly when it came to the environment, and black people are as important as anybody else.
It’s time the Wild West was put to bed. It wasn’t a very nice period of time.