Does up still mean down?

Does up still mean down?

Does non-white still mean undesirable?

Does running away from me still mean coming right at me?

Does jogger still mean thief?

Does hoodie still mean threatening?

Does queer still mean threatening?

Does child still mean target?

Does trans still mean target?

Does Muslim still mean target?

Does lying flat still mean resisting?

Does pre-emptive strike still mean defense?

Does phone still mean gun?

Does pedophile still mean president?

If you heard all that and thought, "Wait a second, those words have never meant that"

Then congratulations: I wrote this poem for you; I wrote this poem because of you

Because you keep telling me that it finally happened in the US, in Jan 2026 it finally happened and you were shocked, SHOCKED

When a group of cowardly mercenaries paid for by a fascist state pushed someone to the ground and murdered them in cold blood in broad daylight

Except it didn’t finally happen because it has already happened hundreds of times before

It happened in May of 2020; It happened in July of 2016; It happened in January 2009; It happened as far back as December 1969

And even farther back still just to name a few

This is not new because it has happened thousands of times before

It happened in Tulsa and Rosewood; It happened at Wounded Knee and Buffalo Gap

Just to name a few because it happened from sea to shining god-damned sea and parts beyond

This is not new and you are not shocked because it has happened millions of times before

It happened in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan; It’s happening in Palestine and Iran just to name a few

This is not new; You are not shocked; You are ignorant and I am no longer accepting excuses

I am no longer entertaining both sides; I am no longer giving the benefit of the doubt

I am no longer holding space or sympathy for people willfully ignorant to the reality they voted for, they are responsible

I am no longer the patient and forgiving type; I can not afford to be

Because much like the slave-catchers and klansmen who first inspired them, the modern-day gestapo is going door-to-door

Somewhere in this county, multiple somewheres in this country, there’s a Juanita hiding in an attic

And in a short while her family will ceremonially bury an empty child’s coffin because my govt won’t be able to locate her corpse amongst the pile

But her Spanish-language diary detailing the last few terrifying months of her life will be translated a hundred languages over

It will be taught to school children in other countries as a cautionary tale of how to not end up like US

This is not new; You are not shocked; You are ignorant and I am tired of your shit

I am sick of my social media feeding me the running joke that being able to connect these dots and being able to recognize these patterns must be the super power of a neurodivergent mind

If you can’t put two and two together before it’s too late then you’ve got the broke-ass brain

The only time that my mind ever diverged was when I finally pulled my head out of the sand and started looking around

So what the fuck is holding you back?

As the concentration camps grow in size and number

As those snatched off the streets and out of their homes start to look more and more like you

As the definition of undesirable grows ever more expansive

As the deportations translate into mass graves; as we liberate the world with bombs

As the boot comes down on my neck; I will struggle to lift my head and look for you

But we both know that I won’t find you because you will be at home wringing your hands, shocked, SHOCKED, that it ever got this far and you will cry out to a careless void, “But how could we have known?”

And if you listen on the wind, then maybe you’ll hear my final words, “We fucking told so!”