We live in the U.S.

Where gun rights
Are favored
Over education, the lives of your children
Are we taught — explicitly — that guns are dangerous?
We know only because of the death toll
Trayvon Martin
Oscar Grant
Michael Brown
John Crawford
Jonathan Ferrell
And so many others
Nameless, anonymous, forgotten
Where the second amendment is favored
Over health care
Affordable health care
Are you going to let that homeless man lie in a pool of his own blood?
He was shot, bleeding on the sidewalk
Limbs splayed awkwardly
Or
Or will you give him a surgery that he can’t afford
Leaving him in debt for the rest of his life?
 
Where borders
Are favored
Over the safety of fellow humans
Humans who could have died
Where they were
Chancing death
On the road
Chancing death
Crossing that invisible line we call a border
Chancing death
But they came
Because living in secret is better than death
Families unimportant
Can you hear them?
The children
Pulled away from family
Mama? Papa? Where are you?
The parents
Worried sick
Without sleep
Where is my child? Is she okay? Tell me!
 
Where history is ignored
Hidden between the lines
Their lives weren’t important
 
Where money takes precedence
The poor left behind
That’s what charities are for
 
Where climate change is fake
But reality TV isn’t
Fake news! We can deal with the climate!
 
Where the rapist walks free
The victim left unbelieved
What was she wearing?
 
Where differences are contradictory
Be unique
But not gay
Do your own thing
But Sam can’t be Susan
And he can’t wear dresses
 
We live in the United States of America
And if we stand divided
Divided we will fall