this is a piece written to the Jena 6 Project in which Tampa Bay, FL artists are trying to raise awareness of the six Jena, LA high school students suffering an unbelievable breech of civil rights
Like slender strings tied around the fingers of every student who laid eyes upon them
They act as rememberences
Three bold forget-me-not's
To remind you that this place is one where feeling uncomfortable in a darker shade of skin is expected
Where segregation has extended to divisions of student parking lots by ethnic preference of who gets to stand in the shade
And who had better dare not cross lines of yellow paint
There is no humanity here
Just the cold, meticulous hatred that blooms most tenaciously in the hearts of america's youth
offering false invitations of open arms
Ending in a flurry of closed white fists
and the mockery of these kids' girlfriends at the house party this one unfortunate black student thought he might be able to find some semblance of basic human understanding
but the door to those green pastures was shut about the same time tree limbs became adorned with implements of alienation
about the same time that same tree
before it was dressed in the finest pre-christmas season hate-mongering racist regalia
became known as the White Tree
as if something born of the very ground we walk upon would rebuke anyone for any reason
as if the manmade mechanism that differentiates the importance of a person based on the amount of melanin in their skin was shared with planet that supports us
and thusly, even the tree itself would have chuckled at the threat these three lengths of rope spurned in the minds of the students who viewed them
but the school officials said it was just a simple prank
didn't have any deeper meaning than that of a towel snapped in the boys' locker room
than giggling groups of popular girls pointing as one walks past
no, of course not, this was just a childish prank
just a simple prank
the repeated explanation:
just a simple prank
to suggest that the unspoken threat of murderous violence is nothing more than an amusing gesture is to not only endanger those who are the subject of it
but also to encourage this behavior in the minds of the next generation
keeping the circle of hatred and misunderstanding moving
like fingers of someone's son carefully knotting each of three ropes into perfect nooses
just like his granddaddy used to make way back when
passed down to his father
and now passed down to him
this was not just an innocent high school joke
this was a revolver, fully loaded
held to the minds of every black person in Jena
like the pen held high by the district attorney who threatened all the students' lives if they wouldn't stop demonstrating around the white tree
this is not only three swinging images of hatred, but the very nature of the threat itself
it's moved out of the backyards of white families hiding their old kkk robes on the back closet's top shelf
and into our courtrooms
when a panel of these teenagers' supposed peers can accuse them of conspiracy to commit murder
sentencing students to more years in prison than life itself could garuntee they'd be able to live through
can someone find the D.A.'s red swastika armband please
those robes are looking mighty white this morning your honor
perhaps you forgot your hood in the car
next to the ropes you instructed your son in knotworking on
and so they do this for the children
make sure the jury convicts the "gang of black boys"
as the district attorney put them
to the maximum sentences allowed by law
so that the children will be safe
but what about the children being led away in chains
like cattle to slaughter this is a modern day lynching
started by three nooses
in school colors
still tied around the minds of a community
waiting for justice
Poetry by David W Durney
Read 565 times
Written on 2007-09-02 at 19:30
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3 nooses
Three nooses hanging from a tree limbLike slender strings tied around the fingers of every student who laid eyes upon them
They act as rememberences
Three bold forget-me-not's
To remind you that this place is one where feeling uncomfortable in a darker shade of skin is expected
Where segregation has extended to divisions of student parking lots by ethnic preference of who gets to stand in the shade
And who had better dare not cross lines of yellow paint
There is no humanity here
Just the cold, meticulous hatred that blooms most tenaciously in the hearts of america's youth
offering false invitations of open arms
Ending in a flurry of closed white fists
and the mockery of these kids' girlfriends at the house party this one unfortunate black student thought he might be able to find some semblance of basic human understanding
but the door to those green pastures was shut about the same time tree limbs became adorned with implements of alienation
about the same time that same tree
before it was dressed in the finest pre-christmas season hate-mongering racist regalia
became known as the White Tree
as if something born of the very ground we walk upon would rebuke anyone for any reason
as if the manmade mechanism that differentiates the importance of a person based on the amount of melanin in their skin was shared with planet that supports us
and thusly, even the tree itself would have chuckled at the threat these three lengths of rope spurned in the minds of the students who viewed them
but the school officials said it was just a simple prank
didn't have any deeper meaning than that of a towel snapped in the boys' locker room
than giggling groups of popular girls pointing as one walks past
no, of course not, this was just a childish prank
just a simple prank
the repeated explanation:
just a simple prank
to suggest that the unspoken threat of murderous violence is nothing more than an amusing gesture is to not only endanger those who are the subject of it
but also to encourage this behavior in the minds of the next generation
keeping the circle of hatred and misunderstanding moving
like fingers of someone's son carefully knotting each of three ropes into perfect nooses
just like his granddaddy used to make way back when
passed down to his father
and now passed down to him
this was not just an innocent high school joke
this was a revolver, fully loaded
held to the minds of every black person in Jena
like the pen held high by the district attorney who threatened all the students' lives if they wouldn't stop demonstrating around the white tree
this is not only three swinging images of hatred, but the very nature of the threat itself
it's moved out of the backyards of white families hiding their old kkk robes on the back closet's top shelf
and into our courtrooms
when a panel of these teenagers' supposed peers can accuse them of conspiracy to commit murder
sentencing students to more years in prison than life itself could garuntee they'd be able to live through
can someone find the D.A.'s red swastika armband please
those robes are looking mighty white this morning your honor
perhaps you forgot your hood in the car
next to the ropes you instructed your son in knotworking on
and so they do this for the children
make sure the jury convicts the "gang of black boys"
as the district attorney put them
to the maximum sentences allowed by law
so that the children will be safe
but what about the children being led away in chains
like cattle to slaughter this is a modern day lynching
started by three nooses
in school colors
still tied around the minds of a community
waiting for justice
Poetry by David W Durney
Read 565 times
Written on 2007-09-02 at 19:30
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
