No Accident

The Miseducation of America

It’s no accident, that

You learned about Helen Keller instead of W.E.B. DuBois, and the Watts and L.A. Riots, but not those in Tulsa or Wilmington; or, that

You learned that George Washington’s dentures were made from wood, rather than the teeth of slaves; or, that

You learned about the New Deal and black ghettos, but never about redlining and Black Wall Street.

It’s no accident, that

You heard and learned about “black on black crime,” but white criminals have never been lumped together and discussed in such terms as their race, creed, color, or gender identity; or, that

You learned about “states rights” as the cause of the Civil War, fought to preserve the Union, but not that slavery was mentioned 80 times in the articles of secession.

It’s no accident, that

Privilege is having history rewritten so that you don’t have to acknowledge uncomfortable facts. Racism is perpetuated by people who refuse to learn or acknowledge all of these truths and realities. But, there is nothing great about hate. On rare occasions, poetic justice is just the karma due to soul-writers and truthsayers who carry their truth in their heart, wielding words as their only weapons and calling it art; though, it’s a hard road to follow.

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2021 MDSHall is a poet living in Illinois, writing in association with the Writes of Passage, “forged on the wordwrights’ anvil,” and the Muse Echo Collective, Purveyors of the Poet Tree of Discoursing Drums beating by any dreams necessary.