We are one Race = Human

from google

We are one Race = Human …

1.

The bigots on all sides try to inflame our petty egos,

to inflate our hollow pride,

bigots on all sides try to abuse our beliefs,

so blinded by our puffed-up arrogance –

“my country right or wrong”,

“my religion and never yours”,

“the colour of my skin and not yours”.

Politicians on all sides try to divide us,

their narrow ambitions riding on our emotions,

trying to pollute all that can, if unquestioningly followed, tear us apart:

nationality,

language,

religion,

gender,

tribe,

race,

sect,

drumming up fear, always fear,

of my fear of you,

of your fear of them,

of our fear of them all.

Their hypocrisy is stark,

as jarring as a rabid dog’s wailing bark,

their intentions far from noble,

their hope is to keep us all, shivering with trepidation,

in the dungeon of racist,

nationalistic,

sectarian,

religious,

casteist,

notions of superiority,

as we throw punches,

as we hurl abuse,

at each other in this purposely infected dark.

The clergy on all sides as well, want us huddled in fear in the deep suffocating well,

of carefully crafted sectarian hate, of artificial religious walls,

of dogma and of semantics, of only picking each other up,

if they are one of “us”,

but never if one of “them” slips,

and falls.

We have danced to these toxic tunes for far too long,

we have served their diseased interests for ages,

dictating who can belong,

allowing the blood in our veins,

to be boiled as it ceases to flow,

and simply rages.

The monsters of Capital and of greed,

have kept us all in line, shackled by the fictitious belief,

that trickle down wealth will bring us all some relief,

while amassing fortunes and sending the young to war,

for their invasions of plunder, of opening up new markets,

even as the gravely wounded soldier knocks on death’s door.

2.

No more!

The future is ours and it will be built with our bare hands, though not as before,

because we stand today as one race,

the human race,

we stand together today,

and their batons and bullets we are prepared to face!

No more!

The times ahead are ours, and the furnace of meaningful change burns bright in our collective core,

for we stand today as one race,

the human race,

we stand together today,

to banish the old and build a new world in its place!

No more!

The years ahead shall be filled with trials and tribulations, but we will let the light shine as we open every locked door,

for we stand today as one race,

the human race,

we stand together today,

and we shall reclaim our commons, our wide open shared space!

No more!

Tomorrow the healing will begin, of countless a festering sore,

for we stand today as one race,

the human race.

We stand together today,

we stand firm and we stand tall,

firm in our convictions that we will always lend our hands to all,

to never again, to never let, another human being break down and fall …

from google

“Ol’ Man River”* with Sister Doris

Paul Robeson – from Wikipedia

from google

“Ol’ Man River”* with Sister Doris …

Walking down an unknown street,

I heard sister Doris calling out to me,

with a Bible in one hand,

and another to shake and meet and greet.

We spoke as strangers, of me being from the land of Mandela,

of her standing all day at that corner,

preaching the word, as she broke into song,

a song which bound us together instantly,

a song that made us both in the midst of the throng,

for an instant,

belong.

She sang from her soul, deep and resonant,

I joined in too,

it was an old song of injustice and of struggle,

of brutality, of the nameless slave,

too many of whom were robbed of even a grave.

Sister Doris and I sang loud, our eyes streaming tears,

two people from opposite ends of the world,

who knew the history of blood and of whips,

of unspeakable pain,

of unimaginable fears.

“Ol’ Man River” echoed for a brief moment of time,

Sister Doris holding her powerful truths,

and I woefully out of tune,

in so many ways, that all I could do was stand in shame,

for thinking, even for a moment, that I could understand the pain.

We parted ways, sister Doris and I,

and today when I look up at the sky,

the blue expanse of freedom way up high,

I feel my eyes water as I break down and as I cry,

still holding onto the conceit,

that I knew, that I could feel, that I could even dare to think,

of the numberless, of the nameless, of the trodden upon ones,

who still slave on,

the souls still in shackles,

who continue to invisibly die …

from google

* – “Ol’ Man River” sung by the late, great Paul Robeson.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson