poem: poetic justice;
shift America
in the racist Jim Crow era of lynchings,
after slavery and before segregation,
lived a young black women journalist
who wrote about the horrors of lynchings
occurring in her hometown of Memphis
a rival, white racist male journalist
incited a mob against the young woman
who destroyed her offices and presses
so that the threats against her
drove her north to Chicago
the young woman went on to win renown
for her reporting on racism, and her work
as a suffragette and with the NAACP,
and her many other social justice
and human rights efforts
the white racist journalist and terrorist
went into politics and had so many enemies
he was shot dead in a feud on the streets of Nashville,
where the good ole white boy and girl network
erected a statue of him in front of the state capitol
now over ninety years pass and this white
racist affront to every black person everywhere
is seen by every visitor to the capital
of Tennessee including our youth,
our future community and political leaders
this statue of a white racist and terrorist
stands through the Civil Rights era, through
President Obama’s administration, through
the extra-judicial murder of black people
in the streets by racist police
until the brazenly, heinous murder of a black
man by a white policeman who placed his knee
on the hand-cuffed man’s neck with his full weight
for 8 minutes and 46 seconds until he dies horrifically
before the eyes of America his breath cut off
protest erupts across the nation and the world
in righteous anger and soon in Nashville
that white racist statue is toppled off its’
base falling to the ground, damaged, and
carted off by authorities
and “…. let justice roll down like waters
and righteousness like a mighty stream….”
we lament this blight upon this land,
this white supremacist evil lie, the statue
is toppled, let it never rise again
now come peoples of color, indigenous peoples,
white allies, from all cultures and nations,
reclaiming the capitol plaza from this scourge,
renaming it Ida B. Wells Plaza for the People,
for this black woman journalist, the true hero
young black citizen activist, experienced in
the struggle, their cohorts and fellow protestors
occupy the spot and raise up Ida B. Wells for all to
know across the land righting this old injustice of
systemic white supremacy and all those complicit
may this poetic justice sing and echo bringing
a long overdue shift in America to that of confession,
repentance, reparations, reconciliation, and the
long hoped for fulfilling of the dream of freedom,
equality, and justice in authentic communities of
diversity and true belonging together as one peoples
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 14, 2020
(Full disclosure: I am a white male, born into the
privileges of white racism in the U.S. I confess and
repent the lie and sin of racism. I continue to learn
from people of color how to be an effective white ally.
I write this poem with a broken heart as I witness the
ongoing personal and systemic white racism resulting
in the murders of siblings of color in the streets of
our communities across this land. I dedicate the poem
to the citizen activist currently occupying the plaza
in front of the Tennessee State Capitol which they have
renamed Ida B. Well’s Plaza for the People. And to all
groups working non-violently, yet discomfortingly, to
shift the United States to finally more perfectly fulfill
it’s promise of liberty, equality, justice, and happiness
for all its’ citizens in diverse communities of authentic
belonging).
images: Ida B. Wells, Tennessee State Museum
toppled statue, The Coloradoan
plaza sign, The Tennessean
