The Skin You Wake Up In

 Just. Plain. Wrong.

I am mourning what this country could be. 

If every white person could wake up tomorrow 

in different skin, 

the skin that gets you shot 

while sleeping innocently in your own bed, 

shot in the back while causing no threat,  

A child shot while playing in the park, 

killed with a knee forced on the neck

while begging to breathe,

the skin that gets you ignored in a car dealership showroom,

the skin that gets you stopped for shoplifting,

when there was no shoplifting,

the skin that gets you ignored at an Open House

when the whole point is to sell that house.

And. 

Every.

Time.

And every time the police officer who shoots you,

knees you to death,

clubs you bloody,

apparently has an exemption for killing you,

Every time you get followed, suspected, ignored like you don’t exist, bullied, shouted at ~ all for no valid reason,

you go home stressed, traumatized and belittled,

treated like you don't count,

your children see you demeaned in front of their eyes,

They get it too, and there is nothing your systematic racist 

country is doing to stop the injustice,

in fact the perpetrators proudly pump up their chests,

because they see they are free to wield the power,

feel emboldened by the president

Can see he feels like they do

since he condones the bigotry,

he even throws words around to encourage it

and support it

Says loudly in his pep rallies, police

don't be too nice,

to his rally kool-aid gang says

break the law,

"I'll pay your legal bill,

Don't be too nice."

If every white person could wake up tomorrow

with different skin and that waking up

was for the last time due to the skin being DIFFERENT,

racism may be understood by the white person

who BELIEVED they were one of the non-racist ones.

All for one reason

                                    of waking up 

                                                                  with different skin,

found what they thought about themselves

was just plain wrong.  

They just never experienced it like that.

And it is clear now

What they thought

What they think about themselves

         is.     just.     plain.     wrong.

Sandra Hammel

August 24, 2020

One Moment

Hold The Light as the Blog For Peace 2024 theme is difficult for me in the aftermath of November 5, 2024. Eight years of a legal case and more years of emotional pain from my adult son, who I adopted when he was 11 1/2 years old in 1999. and now, the unfathomable situation of dealing with the election has me in very low spirits.

I post a poem I wrote in 2018 when I returned home after a difficult time. Writing has been my refugee and sustainer so many times.

It is the kind look

that illustrates | matter,

It is the kindness in a subtle gesture

that gives me reason to feel | am important enough,

It is the tenderness in the energy

that allows me to have a moment of acceptance, while all others around would willingly

delete me into nonexistence,

It is the power of one who cares about my feelings, elevating their humanity while preserving mine,

It is the assailing lack of grace of another, that propels one observant soul

to give a moment of shelter, one moment of refuge.

It is one moment that proves the kings and queens of the world

are the ones who offer shelter and refuge.

And not the ones who are trying so hard to prove that they are mighty and grand.

Spoken words that can only spring forward

from a soul truly gounded in graciousness.

Words that fall like feathers and create for you a soft landing,

a warm cocoon.

A kind look

that knows your need to be seen,

A kind act

that serves as a god to your need to be cared about.

These are the kings and the queens of our lives.

A world of look-at-me shouts,

while you gave me the world in one moment.

One moment of knowing in quiet,

what we make of the world

is in how we ease the need

of being known,

of being seen.

Sandra Hammel ~ February 18, 2018, Sunday

💝

Music has always been a place for me to have my spirit held. 

Many Rivers To Cross