Flag of Distress/What to a Migrant Child is July 4th?

by Tai Amri Spann-Ryan

Mother forgive us
When we know exactly what we do
Take your darker children
And lock them in dungeons of greed
Make mourners of their mothers
Drown their fathers in rivers of freedom
Force 10 year olds to raise babies
And deny them methods to heal

When you look at the trail that we’ve walked
Awaken to the pain we have wrought
The only logical solution
Is to repair legacies of despair
But there’s a crown that sits on oppression
Opium dens for hatred to incubate
Soldiers manufacturing consent
And stars that blind with blockbusters

So what to an imprisoned migrant child
Is the 4th of July?
It’s not the rocket’s red glare
It’s the ripping of the sinews of the heart
Torn from mama
Not the flag of freedom
But the chainlinked fence
The toilet bowl drinking fountain
Not the rainbowed produce aisle
But the spoiled bologna
Not a day to spend with loved ones
But straw on a desert floor

We don’t need another celebration
We need the cold shock of sobriety
Don’t need to watch another show
Need to hear influenza’d cries for family
Don’t need to read POTUS tweets
Need to pay the sins of our forefathers
Don’t need infighting
Need solutions already

And when we feel that our problems are “the worst”
We need to remember that there’s a child
Who followed a dream
Where they saw their father drowned
Where they can’t soothe their mother’s tears
And where men with guns keep them whispering
Mother forgive us