Kash Baloch — Poetry on Identity, Love, and Survival

Let freedom ring, it reigns supreme. Liberty's bell solely tolls for thee. Red, white, and blue but only for you. For me, red is the blood of my brothers and sisters you've murdered. White, the ticket of privilege that buys you luxuries my melanin can't afford. And blue? Blue is the police force that engages in brutality. Its sole criteria for ending a life is colour. I pray for the day there is no news of injustice. No headlines about rapists who are freed whilst teachers are wrongfully killed. Mama, when can we stop digging graves? Help me understand when we stop being slaves. Will we ever be saved? There seems to be no end in sight to this crusade. Is it reckless, are the riots in vain? All that ever changes are the names of the innocents slain.

There is no humanity  when hatred prevails and reigns supreme, when we are divided by our faith,  dogma, race or community. Our focus should be on  the forty-nine innocent lives that were lost, instead of whom to blame  and which group we must accost. When hatred takes over,  ego is the sole reason a louse could feel like a man,  arrogance ignored results in fools  acting out their wicked plans. Anyone who instills fear in others  should be labeled as a terrorist, it should not be reserved exclusively for  that religion from the Middle East. What difference does it make  when families are bereaved,  no amount of bleach could ever erase  these tears or this blood from the streets. Who would have thought a city filled with Disney magic  could experience ugliness like this,  if Mickey Mouse is not even safe  then no one really is.  The world is awash in mourning; the...