None Just One
If it was up to me and I really started counting
The list of problems we have would truly be astounding
When we look at the world we live in, amidst all the dismissiveness
Our issues wow us with their expansiveness
The question is why
How come our problems always seem as high
As the sky?
If you really think about it, they’re outside the scope of our eyes
The problem isn’t individual
Could almost describe it as contractual
The space we occupy has formed barriers only describable as structural
And that’s the issue we face
While some of us suffer every day
Fighting battles against causes we can’t even really chase
While our communities decay
But the need to come together and denounce evil must stay
We’re being poisoned on the daily
Forced to walk along a broken railing
While the world around us rides us to the curb despite continued wailing
Amongst all this trauma, we need more Mindy Kalings
More Hasan Minhajs and Priyankas, to counter all the shamings
Our communities have to deal with, external and within
Our people always struggling, with where to position our chins
There’s a level of pride to experience, we’ve sure come a long way
Families made of immigrants, established at least okay
But we still don’t do the right thing, when confronted with the option
We play along while evil sings, careful to exercise caution
Part of this comes from our history, and the way we’ve been taught to occupy
Our struggle is always juxtaposed to the story of others marginalized
Don’t ruffle any feathers with the people in charge
Is what our parents were taught and internalized while they came here on their charge
To find a better future, for themselves and for their families
Minimize the need to suture, avoid making any enemies
This lesson had been around since the time we were first colonized
The British came and went, every rebellious act was at first sized
By the net impact it had on us, we knew what was done was unjust
But tolerate many did to avoid their homes being bust
And that’s something our ancestors are owed
So much weight that they had towed
To keep us safe so we could speak freely and put their stories up for show
But that day has passed now, we know we made it through
Even though we still deal with problems, this experience is new
Now its our responsibility to look around us and view
The plight of others sitting near us who need our attention too
And not contribute
Or rebuke
Shouldn’t be our mission to refute
The narratives of their suffering
From us its like a bludgeoning
That we’re not on their side
Even though we’re more than happy to have them along for the ride
Where are we for our brown and black friends
While it seems their strife never ends
Are we too busy trying to see if this brown blends
Into white
The questions right
We refuse to fight
Out of fright
And instead we use our might
To build curtains to stay out of sight
And in the process block out the light
Allowing others on the margin to be cast into tight
Space
And be erased
While we don’t even show our face
And sit in silence
Through violence
Until somebody kicks us in the knee
Where we still assert our need to be free
Which is a totally justified plea
But we don’t deserve it, if it comes at another’s hurt
We need to make sure each one of us is on higher alert
Come for one of the oppressed come for all should be the message
We should fight for each other like a unified assemblage
Because at the end of the day, the first step to a future where we’ve won
Is to know we’ve got hundreds of problems, and none of them are just one.
