Us v Them

Written by

Scroll down to the words if you’re having trouble reading the poster on mobile.

Do you remember 
How much I hate
The word "tolerate"

Before November
Can we rename
The International Day for Tolerance 

For something so fundamental

"Tolerate" was all you could muster
Were you thinking of food poisoning
Inclement weather, a headache

After so many atrocities
How is tolerate appropriate

     - Waves of Antisemitism
          - Cattle cars and "untermenschen"
     - Slavery and Anti-Black Racism
     - Anti-Asian and Scientific Racism
     - Stalin's Holodomor and Mao's Great Famine
     - Japan's Unit 731
          - Using "logs" when referring to Chinese prisoners
     - Apartheid
     - Pol Pot's S-21
     - Hutu extremists
          - Using "cockroaches" when referring to Tutsi

International Day for Tolerance? 
Really?

It feels like an afterthought
What a dangerously low bar to set

Maybe you guys were out drinking
Then ran with the idea without further thinking

Tolerance is not about equality
It only grants permission
And permission can be revoked

We need to change our language
In this and many other ways

Here's the Framing
Othering starts with renaming

For the record 
We are human beings
Not seasonal allergies

This word bothers me so much, I’ve written about it before but this is the first time in a poem. (I’m pretty sure that’s true.) I just did a search. I mentioned it in nine different posts. OMG It’s even in my Field Notes. lol.
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