Unwell 2

Unwell:

For Reference

6/12/23 2:25 AM

It doesn’t surprise me

That someone drew a swastika

And wrote "1488"

On a Black Lives Matter Mural

In Hartford Connecticut

The weekend before Juneteenth

It won’t surprise me

When none of the online Blacktivists

(car honks)

Outspoken Pro Black folks

Who have the energy to shade

And belittle people like me

Or Call out hypocrisy

And small-mindedness

Don’t talk about it

It doesn’t surprise me

That the governor of this state

The mayor of Hartford

Came out of their faces

And said

“This is not who we are”

Despite the fact

That it’s exactly who “we" are

“88”, Heil Hitlers,

And “8841”,

1488 backwards if you missed it,

on government cars

Stalking and antiblackness being the norm

White supremacist flyers, decals and stickers

Increasingly winding up in driveways

1/10 communities in the state

Having propaganda distributed in them

And on traffic signs

Someone spray painting

“Nigger”

On an interracial couple’s home

And then the city charging them

For not taking it down

Yeah, no, that’s EXACTLY

"Who we are”

The KKK lives in Connecticut, too

The KKK lives in New England, too

Don’t forget now,

They had their rallies

(Train horn)

Up until the 80s up here

Drawing swastikas on murals

It’s exactly "who we are”

Passive to folks

Who feign ignorance

While being vehemently antiblack,

Queerphobic,

Misogynoiristic,

Fatphobic,

Casteist

And antisemitic

Because THAT is the norm here

That is the air we breathe

The air of hatred

Believing we’re so much better

(train horn)

So much more Woke

So much more caring

Than other parts of the country

Meanwhile

Y’all don’t notice

The white supremacist dog whistles

Being weaponized and utilized

In your own state?

Nah

People of Connecticut

Honestly the people of this world, it seems,

Are way more okay

With Nazis as neighbors

Than they let on

They’re “allowed to have their opinion”

Freedom of speech, after all

And anyone who speaks out against them

Are terrorized into submission

Crazy made and weathered into a straitjacket

Or an early grave

And where is the community to lean on?

To reach out to as it all rises?

Seemingly

Shading folks like me

For not being “woke” enough

Not being up to THEIR standards

I’m not surprised

That someone drew a swastika

and wrote 1488

On a Black Lives Matter mural

In Hartford, Connecticut

A week before Juneteenth

I haven’t been too surprised

Since that man drove 200+ miles

To slaughter black people in Buffalo

Since Neo Nazis had a demonstration

Not too long ago

In the same city where the swastika was drawn

I guess it’s just taken me a while

To be this way

Hurt, but not surprised

Because, in fact,

This is “who we are”

[00]

What’s to be done here?

The bigots are everywhere

Seeking to end us

[00]

Time wasted shading

Do y’all even really care?

We’ve learned nothing, huh?

[00]

88, HH

BH, 1488

KYS, BK