Asphyxiated
Based on the death of Gambian British photographer Khadija Mohammadou Saye who was killed in the Grenfell Tower Fire in 2017. The survivors of Grenfell are still awaiting justice, while the official inquiry refuses to recognize the systemic racism of social inequality and institutional response as contributing to the disaster
They say “eyes are the window to your soul”
yet yours are tight shut,
saturated with unjust and discrimination
birthing around you by every passing moment
the raging flames engulfing the last silver
of hope;
of light,
of love
sucking out from every single soul
holding on their dear loves
in that fateful tower that day.
They say, “an artist takes in the beauty
through their eyes”
and yet yours are closed
overwhelmed with the injustice
the raging inequality;
hoping of that day the perfect utopia
where everyone is blessed with the
basic privilege
to live;
to love,
to breathe.
They say, “eyes are the embodiments
of a beautiful soul”
a metaphor for the muted language;
spoken between the souls
and yet yours are closed shut
averting the view from
all the hunger and greed
burning & leaving
the stench of devouring flames
a putrid stench of indifference;
towards your life
They say, “take in the world through all your senses”
and yet you devoid yourself
from this ethereal experience
as you world burns down from inside
screaming and whelping,
the injustice leaves welts and blisters
on your suppurating skin
When the empty words showers like
the scarring acid rain
on your open wounds
you scream,
you wail
in the hollow nights
hoping for a single soul
to lend their ear
to hear you,
hear you screaming
I can’t breathe!!!
“This poem talks about the metaphoric suffocation which has seeped into the lives of the Africam communities around the world as a result of systemic oppression and the blatant violation of basic human rights.“
Don’t Wait Till You Become A Hashtag
I can’t begin to tell how enraged and angry and heartbroken I have been for the past few days. This systemic oppression of the African American communities and the blatant violation of their human rights have been going on forever. How do you survive a system when the only people who are supposed to be your protectors devour you? The aggressive face of police brutality has been appalling. Needless to say, the movement started a long time back but the killing of the innocents never stopped.
What good is a society when the people living in it has to devise a hashtag to bring the attention of people around them, to make them realize that their lives matter too?
The foundation of this very country is based on looting and violence. So how come the cries of the African American community are treated as mere rioting whereas the violence of your past is called revolution.
You cannot tarnish the face of a movement by brandishing it as a violent riot. Violence is when you sit boisterously on the throat of a handcuffed person for a long 8.5 minutes and not let him breathe. This is as inhumane as it is brutal. Now even breathing in this country has become a privilege rendered by those in power. Let that seep while you sit and wait for your next breath.
Silence is another form of actively supporting and perpetuating these crimes. Miranda Yaver, a political scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a veteran demonstrator aptly said during one of her demonstrations that “White silence = Violence”. So someone needs to speak up loudly so that their voices don’t go unheard like numerous times before. The list of the dead and the forgotten has been going far too. Their lives cannot be reduced to a trivial hashtag and conveniently forgotten until the next news cycle. The unjustified killings of the African American communities have to be stopped. Period.The ripple effect of all the injustices towards the African American right from the day the Mayflower reached the shore, blood laced Civil Rights movement, racial profiling in traffic stops, to unnecessary use of violence in arrests, to disparity during the pandemic all of this has lead us to this moment. This inhumane moment in history where even breathing is considered a privilege for them. This is where humanity stands now.
Nationally, the COVID-19 mortality rate for black Americans is two-point-four times higher than the rate for whites. Let that sink in.
Now the discrimination like the termite infested infection has slowly made its way to the highest level of the government and gnawing the very core of life, liberty, and happiness. Racial discrimination is so prevalent and keeps on widening when the leadership instead of acknowledging the angst and fear in the community is trying to widen it further. Instead of channelizing the fear and anxiety deeply seeded in the African American community, they are being brandished as a terrorist organization.
What do you say about the mendacious president who instead of calming and acknowledging burning angst in his country fellowman, turns off the light in the White House and hole up like a mouse in the bunker? This is what this land of the free and the home of the brave has been reduced to.
If you cannot step out of your homes and take part in a peaceful march or protest then you can raise money for bailing out the protestors who have been locked up. Whether you are born with white privilege or any kind of privilege. Don’t wait for the moment when you need to look for the hashtag to drive the attention of people towards you to make your life matter.
ACT NOW. SPEAK NOW.SUPPORT. DONATE
Megha Sood lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor for the UK based Arts and Literary Journal MookyChick. She is a contributing member at Free Verse Revolution, Heretics, Lovers and Madmen, Sudden Denouement, Whisper and the Roar, GoDogGoCafe. Over 430+ works in journals including Better than Starbucks, Gothamist. Poetry Society of New York, WNYC Studios, Kissing Dynamite, American Writers Review, FIVE:2: ONE, Quail Bell, Dime show review, etc. and Works featured/upcoming in 40 other print anthologies by the US, UK, Australian, and Canadian Press. Three-time State-level Winner NAMI Dara Axelrod NJ Poetry Contest 2018/2019/2020.National Winner Spring Robinson Lit Prize 2020, Finalist in Pangolin Poetry Prize 2019, Adelaide Literary Award 2019 and Erbacce Prize 2020, Nominated for the iWomanGlobalAwrads 2020, Works selected numerous times by Jersey City Writers group and Department of Cultural Affairs for the Arts House Festival. Currently co-editing an anthology celebrating the 100 years of the Woman’s suffrage movement in the US. She blogs at https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/ and tweets at @meghasood16.