Tuesday evening, January 15,2019 at 9: 10 p.m.
"Your silence will not protect you."
- Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Ours is a culture of silent fear—
no one need look far to understand this.
No one discusses politics seriously in public
anymore except at election time, nor anything
else of national importance for that matter
from year to year.Americans know their
opinions don't count, that the government will
do what it wants to do when it wants to do it,
and they fear drawing attention to themselves,
to their opinions, being branded "troublemakers",
so they remain silent.The silent collective—
almost everyone wants to belong, to conform,
to fit in, to live in a white house in the suburbs,
have their two kids play in local little leagues.
The sweet smell of...The demographic runs
like this: the more people, the fewer individuals—
they get absorbed within the mass.
Protests die fast for lack of persons
who fear to care, and the national television
networks turn to hollywood entertainment news.
"Let's get serious, folks."The silent collective—
everything, everyone everywhere is disconnected;
we're out of touch with ourselves, the next person.
We don't want to know.Leave us alone with our...
here in the suburbs, with anyone else who moves in,
figurin' it's better here than where they came from.