Russell Wardlow

A once hoped for, and seemingly mythological speech,
spewing words of radical liberation and equality for All, from a martyr of strong conviction
such beliefs and convicting desires,
that once stimulated a beaten people, propelling them forward from their fears finding strength, while gripping the rest of the nation, enthralled in his message and its implications for their world
beliefs,
once met with bats and batons, ropes and nooses, dogs and horse mounted policeman, burnings and fire hoses, roadblocks and barbwires
beliefs,
once when there was no extremism, just the ism of a nation
the ism of hatred
the ism of survival by all means and of the fittest
the ism of one size fits all
the ism of one color and religion
the ism of a supposed god-favored people and divinely ordained and manifested land and power
the ism of greater than’s and less than’s
the ism of exceptions being made on one side, and no exceptions for the others
the ism of exclusionary views and practices
the ism of supremacy
the ism that fought hardest against inclusion
the ism of when extremism was just considered the norm, our country, and patriotism
but this isn’t patriotism
this is Nationalism
where views,
get spewed,
used and abused,
absolute power being a corrupted power infused,
lighting inequality’s fuse,
depending on which side you choose,
or what side chooses for, or against you
–
to a society-
preferring the heartburn of its racy relations detached practices, vomiting separation-
this is indigestion
to the multicultural coalition of people-
championing equality, humanity and it’s sacrificial costs-
this is insurrection
to black people, brown people, and the colored others-
this is resurrection
resurrection of a day when fighting for equality was their worst fear
resurrection of a day when living at times was their worst nightmare
resurrection of a day when the voices of darker pigmented people counted for nothing more than the sounds of a pack mule
“We Shall Overcome”
and its poignant yet persevering melodic and nostalgic tone, ringing like church bells, ineffably transcending generations and the innumerable words and actions that have followed in its wake, by either tarnishing it’s majesty or adding to its resilient kinetic power energizing generations to come, almost now, at this very moment, sounds like, “we shall overrun”
we shall OVERRUN everything and anyone in our way
we shall OVERRUN everything and anyone that opposes us
we shall OVERRUN when we have all power to do so
we shall overrun because, yes, we can
and we Will
or else
but I utter the echoes of it being darkest before dawn
that this moment is a testament to the generations ready to move, progress, and power on
that this doesn’t sully those on the other side that believe in the interests of humanity, righteousness, equality, liberty, and this country’s foundational democracy and nationhood
regardless of political ideology,
that this only further emboldens the surge forward of a united front, that had wavered through recent years to the alluring fangs of oligarchy and corporational bottom lines over the many lives on the bottom
–
but to those many lives on the bottom,
that are now being seen and becoming the new force of reckoning,
to you I say,
that this vindicates the wretched unheard cries and screams for justice finally in a life that has only experienced injustice with cold steel gripping their wrists,
peace,
in a life that has had every remnant of it stripped forcibly away
existence,
to a person that has only known the shadows,
redemption,
to those that feel death and taxes was the only promise kept,
freedom,
in a life that has only felt trapped and endured the longsuffering of internal entrapment
promise,
in a life that has only known pain, let downs, tragedy, and trauma
hope,
in a life that has only known the tilted scales of imbalance,
and truth,
in a life that has only heard and herded towards the hypnotic illusory sirens of lies
because freedom is a ringing,
and its ringing loud, hard, strong and with a new vigorous vibrato and tenaciousness
the heart of freedom,
is pumping the blood of equality into overdrive
and the gears of change,
have never been so charged and eager
ready to see a light so luminous,
as if the very lips of God had spoken it into divine immediacy for such a time like this
the march on capitol did not set the manifested and prophetic dream of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, back
the march on capitol was a gift from the grave of our late King,
gifts of coming sovereignty
gifts to only be understood and in time apart,
because perspective has been the poison of progress,
for those that look high
and those that look low,
but how else and at what better time than now, to remember the speech that rang through all corners of our planet
this is what the dream looks like
there will be comforts lost in the short term
and there will be the appearance of brief iniquities and inequalities all in the balancing of those who were left without the bear rights of their humanity, and it not gripping strong onto them to enforce the balance they had been left without
there may be some others that feel more shade than the sun they had grown accustom to feeling, for those who had been forced in their dark quiet corners, suffering in silence, fearing the possible punishment of exposure, not allotted the same shine that had once bronzed the skin of the privileged
but this lasts only but a second, though change is scary, I ask all to come out embracing their fear
fore right now we cherish the struggle, the strife, the strain, and sojourn for a new day, a new day of
“We Have Overcome”
because the dream is what we live, but to keep and stay worthy of the dream, we have to be willing to understand life in new and better eyes,
to understand people in new and better hearts,
and to understand freedom in new and better minds,
so we can properly appreciate those like Dr. King Jr,
whom died to make our life, the reality
the ever evolving dream