The Persecuted

Izzi Lynn

Tumbling crowds walk all over us

Pressure us into silence

Silence as they kill us

Silence, so we don't wake up the ones who would be called good

Silence so we can't fight

Since so we're all alone

 

We were different, so no one cared

We were different, so no one believed us

We were different, so our whispers were talked over

We were different, so we were ignored

 

We were Jewish in the Holocaust

We were African American in slavery

We were Muslim after 9/11

We were Japanese-American after Pearl Harbor

We were Christian when Rome persecuted us

We were Native American when America was colonized

We were Roma in WWII

We were Mormon in Haun's Mill Massacre

We were Puritans in England

We were Indian when Britain invaded

 

We are Christian in ISIS territory

We are Muslim in Myanmar 

We are Syrian refugees

We are women in Silicon Valley

We are gay in a homophobe's city

 

We were persecuted, but we perservered

We are oppressed, but we still speak up

Our legacy is our strength, our courage, and our faith

Our hope is that we are an example for the persecuted later in time

 

  • Author: Izzi Lynn (Pseudonym) (Offline Offline)
  • Published: May 3rd, 2016 21:48
  • Comment from author about the poem: This poem isn't necessarily for me, but more for others. I don't want to just write about myself. I want to write for others too. I, myself, am very privilaged. I live in America, I'm Christian, I go to a private school, I have a good life by most standards. But there are others not quite so lucky, others who can't speak out as easily as I can. I don't want to take my life for granted. I don't want to ignore history. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I don't want a repeat of the Holocaust, of the Inquisitian, of the Crusades, of the Concentration Camps, of any of it. So that's why I tried a different type of writing. I wrote from someone else's point of view.
  • Category: Reflection
  • Views: 23
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