A dirty word,
something to fear,
the enemy in chief.
Or our greatest asset,
the perfect mix,
a value to savour.
I might be different,
through the colour of my skin,
the way that I think,
abilities I have,
my gender,
age,
or who I might love.
~
But that does not make me less,
and it does not give you the right,
to cause unnecessary pain,
for political points,
or a warped sense of right.
~
Stop now.
~
Before it’s too late.
~
Hate will only ever breed hate 💔.
I’d be really happy if you subscribed or upgraded. It’s not really a politically motivated Substack, but sometimes I just feel like using my words in a more important way than poems about cheese (out this week).
Thanks Phil – very timely. I’ve just come back from travelling around Africa with my family, and the contrast couldn’t be starker. Everywhere we went, people were incredibly welcoming – even offering us things they could barely afford themselves, like a can of Coke. Back home, near Birmingham, the atmosphere feels dark and heavy. There have been weekly protests outside an asylum hotel, with people waving racist banners, and Union Jacks and St George’s Crosses hanging from lampposts in a way that feels less about pride and more about exclusion. The difference in spirit is striking.
Your piece got me thinking...
What bad actors have done successfully to promote hate and ignorance: target poor people and tell them their misery is the fault of other poor people. You'd only have a job= another poor person's fault...he doesn't look like you? Even better; another reason to hate. It's not human nature, it's structural. If people are busy hating each other at the ground level, they don't pay attention to the people taking away everything from them. They start supporting agenda's that negatively affect their own collective under the false hope that doing that will somehow help them move up in the food chain. But at the end of the day, it's just a scheme to keep people down, underpaid, unhappy, poor and blaming other poor people.