\n<\/strong>by warsan shire<\/p>\n
they set my aunts house on fire i\u2019ve been praying, later that night<\/p>\n i held an atlas in my lap it answered https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Warsan_Shire<\/a><\/p>\n Post #2: Anne Carlson writes her cousin<\/strong><\/p>\n You are my cousin. I write this open letter because I am angry and I\u2019m sick of your snarky, white -male, patronizing remarks on what I am posting on my FB page. I\u2019m writing this to any of my family members who share [your] views as well. I know you are watching.<\/p>\n I am not going to be “Minnesota nice” right here.<\/p>\n I\u2019m tired of worrying if I am hurting your feelings because you are family. I\u2019m tired of caring whether I am saying this is the right way. I\u2019m tired of your defensiveness. I\u2019m tired of you intellectualizing about race in America when you have no idea what it is like to be black; you have no idea what it is like to raise a black son in this hostile world. You have lived in the other America–the America where cops serve and protect you. A world where you can walk wherever you want with freedom.<\/p>\n I write this letter to you and to all of my other family members who continue to reroute the conversation away from the PAIN and the ANGER about the murder of black people. Stop antagonizing me and baiting me about the looting and the destruction and the \u201coutside agitators\u201d and posting false news articles. You comment about things I post as if to say that I somehow encourage looting and destruction of communities. I DON\u2019T. It breaks my heart. At the same time, I get why people are PISSED! This anger didn\u2019t just come out of nowhere. This has been built over centuries. No one wants to see a small business, that has served the community, destroyed. Why would you ever think I encourage destruction of people\u2019s beloved communities?<\/p>\n Stop quoting black leaders\u2019 words out of context because it makes you feel better about yourself. And if you are quoting black leaders, at least read ALL of their work, and include women of color too in your daily reading, like Audre Lorde. Shame on you for googling Brainy Quotes and copying and pasting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr\u2019s words about non-violence when you don\u2019t quote his more militant speeches.<\/p>\n Read up on redlining and housing discrimination. Read up on the city planners who created segregated cities because black neighborhoods were seen as dangerous. Read up on white flight. Ask your friends and family members why they live in gated communities; ask why they don\u2019t have black neighbors and friends; stop saying you know black people because you have a black co-worker.<\/p>\n I want to hear your ANGER and HEARTBREAK as if George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Philando Castille and Tamir Rice and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbory and Sandra Bland and Lequan McDonald and Eric Garner and so many others were your friends, your sons and daughters, your nieces and nephews, your cousins, your family.<\/p>\n Not once have you acknowledged the PAIN I feel when I look at Malcolm and all his amazingness and know there will be a time when he is seen as a threat. You might even cross the street when he walks by or clutch your belongings. Not once have I heard you acknowledge the ANGER people are feeling. You instead center yourself in the dialogue.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t about you. Stop talking and posting your opinions about looting and outside agitators. That is in the mainstream media. We know that side of things. Be different.<\/p>\n If you are going to quote about non-violence, then apply that to law enforcement as well. You celebrate the 4th of July every year which was a bloody revolution and involved lots of destruction of property, but yet you can\u2019t understand why people are rising up now against a tyrannical system. Place your blame in the right place. And also, you can embrace dialectical thinking in that you can be heartbroken about the destruction of communities while also being ANGRY about institutionalized violence toward black people.<\/p>\n I am not \u201cunfriending\u201d you on purpose even though I feel tempted to do so. I feel a responsibility to challenge you in a more public way because I\u2019M TIRED!! PERIOD!!!!<\/p>\n Love,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your cousin, Anne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Warsan Shire\u2019s poetry has become familiar on the Work Day list; \u00a0it will lead today\u2019s untypical post. \u00a0My niece Anne Carlson is very familiar to me but not to most readers of the list. \u00a0When I read the post she … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/09\/warsan-shire.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\ni cried the way women on tv do
\nfolding at the middle
\nlike a five pound note.
\ni called the boy who use to love me
\ntried to \u2018okay\u2019 my voice
\ni said\u00a0hello
\nhe said\u00a0warsan, what\u2019s wrong, what\u2019s happened?<\/p>\n
\nand these are what my prayers look like;
\ndear god
\ni come from two countries
\none is thirsty
\nthe other is on fire
\nboth need water.<\/p>\n
\nran my fingers across the whole world
\nand whispered
\nwhere does it hurt?<\/p>\n
\neverywhere
\neverywhere
\neverywhere.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nWarsan Shire
\n<\/strong>1988-<\/p>\n