Time to Make Our Nation True to its Colors

by Ernie McCray

Oh, these hair-raising
misguided
shortsighted
folks
waving their
red, white, and blue flags
and wearing their red, white, and blue
caps and hats,
and red, white and blue
tennis shoes,
on the news,
unmasked and
confused and unglued,
packing heat,
singing the blues
because they can’t
do whatever
they want to do,

like they’re some

superior race

of people

who need not

follow rules,

locking me into

fits of déjà vu

because I’ve seen

this scenario

a time or two:

mobs of white folks

taking the law

into their own hands

which inevitably

leads to a bit of misery

for us dark-skinned folks

us “minorities.”

It’s deeply embedded in our history,

the lynching and tarring and feathering

and battering

and, in this chapter capturing

these moments in time,

these terrorists of our time

are making us even more vulnerable

when we were already the most vulnerable

to the ravishes of a deadly disease

that they, and their Commander-in-Chief

in the West Wing of a big White House

in DC,

dismiss as a common flu –

they’re truly people

who wouldn’t care

if he shot someone

in the middle of Fifth Avenue.

They call themselves patriots
as they wrap themselves
in their flags
and don their caps and hats
and their sneakers,
creating a vision

of red, white, and blue

but such behavior can’t

continue to exist

as we rise out of our distancing

and isolation,

needing, if we must

continue honoring the colors

of our nation,

to best go about it

with fresh pairs of eyes

that can see our collective needs

clearly and earnestly,

with ears

that can hear our conjoining cries

at deeper and keener

frequencies,

with heartfelt intentions

that can enhance

human relations

across social

and political lines

and enable us to survive

as a species

down the line,

making our colors

shine

with a glow

that commits our souls

to embracing the color red

for the passion and desire and love

we’ll need

as agents of refashioning humankind;

to proceeding with the implied

qualities of the color white’s

goodness and purity;

to honoring the virtues

of trust, loyalty, and truth,

embodied in the color blue;

to sensing cosmically

how our blue skies

and blue seas

connect us internationally

which is a coming together that is vital

to the wellbeing

of the world’s wide-ranging

mixtures of societies.

Our red, white, and blue

colors so celebrated

and appreciated

would be an alluring

hope inspiring

sight to see.

A sight we

need to see

and must see.

Desperately.