James Weldon Johnson, born in Florida in 1871, was a national organizer for the NAACP and an author of poetry and nonfiction. Perhaps best known for the song "Lift Every Voice and SIng," he also wrote several poetry collections and novels, often exploring racial identity and the African American folk tradition. (Poets,org)
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When the Orders Came
Fatimah Asghar
"[We are] calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
‘Fatimah Asghar is a poet, filmmaker, and educator. She is the author of the full-length collection If They Come For Us (One World/ Random House, 2018) and the chapbook After (YesYes Books, 2015).’
‘A member of the Dark Noise Collective, Asghar has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Poetry Foundation. Asghar is the Guest Editor for Poem-a-Day in January 2021 and is the writer and cocreator of the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls. She lives in Los Angeles.’ (poets.org)
Tamera, I am grateful to you. So often it is the people who tell it best -- what they are experiencing and tell it from their hearts souls. It is listening to one another that is a great teacher. You listen, Tamera.
Thank you, Frederick. It is the souls of people that you listen to. Biden has said that he is fighting for the 'soul' of America. That is what we are looking for and can hear from one another. Salud!
To America
James Weldon Johnson 1871 –1938
How would you have us, as we are?
Or sinking 'neath the load we bear?
Our eyes fixed forward on a star?
Or gazing empty at despair?
Rising or falling? Men or things?
With dragging pace or footsteps fleet?
Strong, willing sinews in your wings?
Or tightening chains about your feet?
This poem is in the public domain.
James Weldon Johnson, born in Florida in 1871, was a national organizer for the NAACP and an author of poetry and nonfiction. Perhaps best known for the song "Lift Every Voice and SIng," he also wrote several poetry collections and novels, often exploring racial identity and the African American folk tradition. (Poets,org)
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When the Orders Came
Fatimah Asghar
"[We are] calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
—Trump’s administrative team, December 7, 2015
they shipped us to the sanctuary camps
& we forgot our other countries.
like good schoolchildren we sung
the anthem loud, so loud
until we could hear nothing else.
not the birds delighting
over their young, or the dogs’ snarl
at our feet, or him on the news
hourly, growling. this is the cost
of looking the other way
when they come for us:
I build safety inside you
& wake in cuffs.
I’m all mouth. every morning
I whisper my country my country my country
& my hands stay empty.
what is land but land? a camp
but a camp? sanctuary
but another grave? I am an architect.
I permission everything
into something new.
I build & build
& someone takes it away.
From If They Come For Us: Poems (One World/ Random House, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Fatimah Asghar. Used with the permission of the poet.
‘Fatimah Asghar is a poet, filmmaker, and educator. She is the author of the full-length collection If They Come For Us (One World/ Random House, 2018) and the chapbook After (YesYes Books, 2015).’
‘A member of the Dark Noise Collective, Asghar has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Poetry Foundation. Asghar is the Guest Editor for Poem-a-Day in January 2021 and is the writer and cocreator of the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls. She lives in Los Angeles.’ (poets.org)
Dear Fern, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you once again. I don't know how you do it but I am ever grateful for THIS!
Tamera, I am grateful to you. So often it is the people who tell it best -- what they are experiencing and tell it from their hearts souls. It is listening to one another that is a great teacher. You listen, Tamera.
Thank you Fern; I have saved your post and will share it, that its soul may find home in others
Thank you, Frederick. It is the souls of people that you listen to. Biden has said that he is fighting for the 'soul' of America. That is what we are looking for and can hear from one another. Salud!
🙏
You've addressed the CORE of our times. Biden is fighting for the soul of America! The soul of our society, and each life. Brava, Sister Fern!