Worth

a poem

Content note: this poem is about general discrimination in our current world; topics discussed/mentioned include racism, ableism, transphobia, sexual assault, classism, incest, homophobia, suicide, xenophobia

“You’re not worthy,”

A white teacher tells her Black students, a stark reminder of the constant threat of racism and classism they face. They grow up believing this as they’re fed into the school-to-prison pipeline, unable to spend time with their loved ones despite committing only minor traffic violations.

“You’re not worthy,”

A doctor in a hospital tells a patient’s family. The patient is already disabled and is now sick with Covid-19, needing a respirator. The family pulls the patient off life support, convinced by the doctor that they had no quality of life pre-infection anyway.

“You’re not worthy,”

An anti-trans ‘feminist’ screams, spitting in the face of the trans man who was just raped to ‘fix’ their gender. This ‘feminist’ refuses to learn about the long history of gender identity pre-colonialism in nearly every culture. The trans man, reluctant to be assaulted again, returns to the closet and stops transition. He self-harms to deal with the emotional pain.

“You’re not worthy,”

A middle-class father yells to the single-mother family on welfare. He earns enough so that his wife can stay home with their kids. The family on welfare doesn’t have that luxury. The mother works two jobs, barely sleeping, to try to stay afloat. With minimum wage so low, her older children have to start working to help pay the bills.

“You’re not worthy,”

An old politician tells his constituent, a 12-year old child seeking an abortion due to incest. Her stepfather lived out his ‘fantasy’ with his daughter while convincing the mother it was the child’s fault. She dies in childbirth while physicians ignore her complaints of pain, her body too frail to survive such a huge feat at such a young age. The child’s mother raises her grandchild as her own, only to have the cycle of abuse continue.

“You’re not worthy,”

A girl screams at her best friend who has just come out as a lesbian. The lesbian isolates herself, continuing to believe something is wrong with her because she has no friends, instead of embracing the truth that her ‘friends’ were wrong.

“You’re not worthy,”

A grandpa informs his adult grandchildren. They once shared the same ideals, the same beliefs about freedom, equality, and justice. Now old and secure, grandpa keeps voting to return to the ‘good old days’ that he once abhorred and marched against for their discriminatory nature.

“You’re not worthy,”

A reader of those mainstream political websites screams at the chronic pain patient. Despite knowing nearly nothing about the rates of pain medication use and lack of abuse within pain circles, the reader believes they know everything about pain management from a 30-second segment. The patient completes suicide to end their pain.

“You’re not worthy,”

A president tells people about their children. “A very small number of students will die as we go back to school,” he says, “but not many.” Our politicians constantly play roulette with our children while theirs get safety, security, and all the best protection money can buy.

“You’re not worthy,”

An American citizen says as he spits on the undocumented immigrant asking for assistance, unaware of the ways undocumented immigrants keep the US economy afloat. The New Colossus no longer yearns to help others, but to uphold White Supremacy.

“No huddled masses allowed,” a new sign says at the Statue of Liberty, “because you’re not worthy.”