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We Need A Ladder

These times are 
so painfully difficult.
In my almost 62 years,
I had never seen
a person use 
a part of his body 
to kill another person.
Knees are
for prayer
not murder.

 How do we get out
of this deep hole
initially dug
400 years ago?
It was deepened
as its walls
were reinforced 
by each subsequent
privileged generation
taking great pride
in asking,
"How low
can we go?"

 It appears to be
a bottomless pit
with a stench
from four centuries
of dehumanization -
a stench worst
than the bowels
of the ships used
in the Middle Passage -
a deathly stench
offering only
an olfactory assault
denied by 
the pretenders.

When do they choose
to work with us
to build a ladder
strong and secure
to bring each of us
to a new level ground
with an abundance
of sunlight
and fresh air?
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