Poetry 2015

A.G. - Oh The Injustice Oh the injustice.

Everyday segregated, but “free.”

Oh but it’s not free and Dr. King is gonna change that.

His speeches gonna change the world, gonna make us free for real.

We march with the good Dr. King for our freedom, with not a single punch thrown.

Not by us at least.

Oh the terror, no person has earned what we get, not a single one.

Oh the terror, and we didn't do a thing, except want to be free.

Oh why, why can’t we be free?

In the land of the free.

All we want is equality.

Oh the injustice.

Oh the injustice.

The clans make death seem better than life, but we are gonna live jovially and free.

There are groups of people, blacks and whites, gonna ride together, for equality.

Hope that we get this freedom because we have all come so far, although four girls went to church and did not return, all because they’re black not white.

Oh the injustice.

We’re gonna keep fighting with not a punch so that this can’t ever happen again.

One day we're gonna be free, but now we fight.

With no fist.

Oh the injustice.

W.C. - I Remember...

I remember The death of many people I knew and loved.

I remember

Living in the filthy ghettos, surrounded by the dead, dying, or sick.

I remember The Nazis taking away everything I owned, and everyone I loved.

I remember The fear of getting separated from my loving family.

I remember The lack of control for the Jews and the amount of control that the Germans possessed.

I remember The torture, the propaganda such as posters, signs, and news announcements, and the death.

I remember Watching a German policeman beating up an old man on the street.

I remember The amount of people just watching and doing nothing, the bystanders.

I remember The places that my family hid to escape the Nazis: the barns, the basements, and even attics.

I remember Life in the concentration camps and all the work we had to do: the cleaning, the building, and worst of all, the burning of my friends at the crematorium.

I remember Failing to lift a heavy piece of wood and being shot by the nearest guard, to never breathe or cry again.

I.B. - Memories

I remember the long and treacherous fight for our freedom.

I remember the headlines on the news.

I remember the lunch counter sit-ins as a long day without food.

I remember the picketing as well as the back of my hand And The tears streaming down my face at the death of my loved ones.

I remember the Birmingham Church Bombing ripping the hearts of families.

I remember Dr. Martin Luther King and his powerful speeches.

I remember the gunshots louder than explosives and the spray of the fire hoses strong as oxen.

I remember the Little Rock Nine as brave as soldiers going to war, Even little Ruby Bridges melting my heart with her courage.

I remember the 381 day long bus boycott.

I remember the Freedom Rides. Â I remember the church rallies, exciting and inspiring.

But my many memories are yet to come, good and bad.

A.L - The Fighter

I am the one who fights for my rights.

I wonder why I am treated this way.

I hear the chant of the K.K.K. I see the ballad that is near, but so far.

I want to be treated fairly.

I am the one who fights for my rights.

I pretend that everything is fine, but it's not.

I feel like someone is always watching me, Waiting for me to do something wrong.

I touch my son and hope he grows up in a place where he can do things with whites.

I worry that things won't get better.

I cry at the sight of a black man murdered.

I am the one who fights for my rights.

I understand that I am different.

I say it hopefully that things will get better.

I dream that someday I will have those rights.

I try to do what I can, but it's hard.

I hope someday we will join together.

I am the one who fights for my rights.

A.L. - Women’s Wish

I wish I had the right to own.

I wish I had the right to work for the same pay as a man.

I wish I had the right to vote.

I wish I had the right to speak my thoughts.

I wish I had the right to pick whom to marry.

I wish I had the right to help in the war effort.

I wish I had an America, where there was equality.

J.B. - A Survivor We were taken from our homes.

We were forced to sell everything we had and all that we depended on.

We sold our house, our land, and our hope.

We were dragged to a land we did not know to start over in a lifeless desert at the foot of the Sierra Nevada.

We started a new life in a land of nowhere; we were bankrupt, and hopeless.

They didn’t trust us.

They worried that we were Japanese spies, but that was okay because we will never trust them either.

They don't’ know who we are.

They never got to know us.

If they did we wouldn't have struggled through what we did; they would see who we really were.

Instead, we had to build our own camps from scratch.

We had our spirits broken.

We were treated as prisoners who were useless, called names, and spat on.

I watched my family fall weaker and weaker in the painful conditions.

I watched as my cousin tried to escaped under the fence, hoping that the man in the watch tower would not see him.

The guard in the tower shot him down.

He fell to his chest, took his last breath, and died a fatal death with his eyes wide open.

This never would have happened if the world had more trust, if the American government trusted that I was true American, and that I would never do anything to sabotage sweet America.

I was not an untrustworthy Japanese American planning to help Japan attack America again.

We have persevered through harsh weather conditions: pouring rain, scorching heat, numbing wind, and petrifying storms.

I am a survivor of the Japanese American Internment.

J.C. - I Remember the Holocaust I remember the cruelty.

I remember the hatred.

I remember the suffering and how the people died everywhere I looked.

I remember the rage.

I remember the inhumanity.

I remember the people, even the ones who have left us forever.

I remember the beatings.

I remember the unforgettable.

I remember the injustice and the faithless.

I remember the sacrifice.

I remember the fear.

I remember the horror, but I also remember the people who were strong.

I remember the powerful.

I remember the helpful.

I remember the fearless, even the ones who died trying.

I remember the fighters.

I remember the heroes.

I remember the rebellious and the rioters. Â I remember those who escaped.

I remember the daring.

I remember the gallant, even the warriors who won.

I remember the ones who broke through. Â I remember the end.

A.O. - The Holocaust

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

I wonder if I will live to see my home and family again.

I hear my sister yelling to me.

I see people dying, with a bang of a gun.

I want to survive and forget about this...

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

I pretend that I'm not hungry.

I pretend I’m not freezing.

I feel very gloomy.

I touch the cold ground.

I worry about my family.

I cry because of the life I had before... without the misery we have now, given to us by the tyrant, Adolf Hitler.

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

I understand nothing.

I say that I will live.

I dream I will see my family again and I try to be strong.

I work very hard so that I can live.

I hope this will end soon.

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

I fear for my life So I won’t be murdered.

All the Jews, All the concentration and extermination camps.

There is dehumanization.

There is discrimination In Germany, And throughout Europe.

There is so much death.

I feel the hatred towards me.

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

I am furious at Hitler.

He is heartless.

He’s killed millions.

It’s so unfair.

I hope I survive.

I am more hungry than a bear after hibernation.

T.E. - One by One Until There Were None Children ripped from their families Families ripped from their homes Rights ripped from Jews leaving them with nothing Hate more fiery than the hottest ghost pepper Ghettos Run-down apartments Filthier than the dry and crusty dirt under a person’s fingernails Hoards of Jews increasing by the hour The air heavy with humidity, sweat, and the stench of death Hunger spread fast Disease spread faster Eyes and ears desperately trying to block out the pain The blood, the sickness, the death Trapped behind the stained and rotting walls Going insane with no escape Days passed Months passed Hearts broken Dreams crushed Tears shed Hopes of survival destroyed When the Jews saw what lay ahead

Millions of people crammed into train cars"

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Cramped together in the musty blackness for days on end Watching each other suffer over and over What came next was even worse Concentration camps Worse than prisons Gas chambers Weary Jews lining up to take a shower Clueless Helpless Powerless The faucet turns Water fails to come out The gas escapes The life is taken To the hate To the unfairness To the power of the Nazis Millions of faces clammy with nervous sweat Millions of hands covered in blood and dirt All people wanted was freedom All they wanted was to get back home They screamed for the torture to stop They cried out for their families They begged for mercy

They betrayed each other just to get a solid meal They bled as they were punished for being Jews They died one by one as the workloads got heavier They died two by two as the meals got lighter Finally the time came Hitler dead Freedom from the concentration camps Escape from the black cloud of horror But it was too late The damage had been done The bodies were still there But the souls were gone One by one Until there were none

B.N. - The Promises

“They have made more promises than I can remember But the only one they kept was that they would take our land And everything with it.”

All of the fish from the river were taken.

I knew that we were being used and that we were finished.

We had barely anything.

I watched as they started taking families from their homes and sold the homes for their own.

They took our land for our crops and rich soil.

The white men were truly spoiled. They stole our precious corn and tried taking me away.

I said, “No, I have been here since I was born.”

Then more white men came dashing on their horses towards our village I had a feeling we were in trouble.

K.O. - I am an American I am an American My family is Japanese, but I am a citizen by birth.

I was born and raised in America And this is where I belong.

A True American I have never lied or stolen.

I have always been good and true, Just as good as any other Citizen of America.

A Free American I am the same as any other person, If not better.

If they are free, Why should I not be, too?

A Different American Yet, I look different from them, Those other citizens, And they lock me up for it Because I am Japanese.

I am an American Someday, I know, The people will realize their mistake.

They will come too, And set us free, because I am an American.

E.W. - The Scar That Will Never Fade I remember Getting dirty looks from all directions because I was different.

I remember Sitting alone on a park bench marked “Nur Juden.� Jews only.

I remember The radio announcements and posters that said I was the enemy. Don’t treat me the same. Hurt me.

I remember Moving to the ghettos, where no one had clean water, electricity, or enough living space.

We were isolated from the outside world.

I remember The day the policemen came to take me away, forcing me from the ghettos into the train station.

I remember Being separated into two groups next to the trains: men and women. I heard people screaming, and saw them clawing their way through the crowd back to the family they were forced away from.

I remember Seeing the world rush by out of the small window in a filthy train car, desperately wanting to know where I was going.

I remember Arriving at the concentration camp, watching my life flash before my eyes, knowing I would leave either emaciated and beaten or dead.

I remember The sign above the gate that said “Work Will Set You Free�. I knew that was a lie. They were never going to let us go.

I remember Men in uniforms separating us again into two groups. There was one with elderly people, small children, and pregnant women, and the other was anyone who looked fit and healthy.

I remember The uniformed men telling the line with the able-bodied men and women to follow him to a field filled with rickety barracks. The other line was sent to a showering area.

I remember Hazy smoke rising from a building near the showers, and I finally put it together. They were killing them.

I remember The smell that filled the air, an indescribably foul odor that permeated the camp and never went away. This smell meant the end of a life. One that was taken too early.

I remember The guards shaving my head, tattooing a number on my arm. As every strand of hair fell to the ground, I felt my freedom slipping further and further away.

I remember My dream of becoming a doctor, a rabbi, an astronaut, anything but a prisoner.

I remember Working unbearably hard every day, with one short break midday for an unsatisfactory, tasteless meal. I worked in the crematorium, the place where they burned the bodies they considered useless, the ones that could no longer work. I had never touched a dead body before.

I remember The few moments in the morning where I forgot where I was, where I let myself have some peace before dying again and again, every day.

I remember The people in uniforms coming into the barracks. But these were different uniforms from what we were used to. They told us we were free now. I tried to feel joy, but all of my potential to feel anything but pain had burned away long ago.

It has been many years since I have been in that camp, and although the wound is no longer fresh, I still have the scar, the scar that will never fade.

L.R. - Trail of Tears Today we march, tomorrow we march, a never ending train of people.

We are herded together like animals, the soldiers on their horses watching our every move.

They lazily hold their guns, a cruel warning of our captivity.

Mistreatment is an understatement.

Our tribe leader tries to stand strong, and give hope to his people.

But I can see him weakening every day, as the country we once loved, now chips away at our well being. Â Hope is the only thing that keeps me alive.

Dozens of people die every day; their limp bodies cast aside on the trail.

Families mourn, but only for a moment.

If they hesitate, they will be prodded with the point of a bayonet.

Hardship has become a part of our daily life.

Today we march, tomorrow we march, a never ending train of people.

L.R. - Women’s Rights Movement I am a woman.

Every day I cook and clean for my husband, while he sits back after a long day at work, telling me about his day.

Not once does he ask how mine went.

I am a woman.

I must be a proper housewife, and take care of the children all by myself.

His excuse is that he works, and is too tired to help out.

Am I not tired?

I am a woman.

I am considered to be inferior to any man.

They feel that we are playthings, thinking our sole purpose in life is to look pretty.

What if I’d rather be smart?

I am a woman.

Not once have I been allowed vote, and am forced to stay home during the election.

My husband believes that he is voting for both of us, saying what we both think.

What if I have a different opinion?

I am a woman, and I’ve had enough.

L.R. - Civil Rights Movement Anger will not help us, hatred doesn’t drown out hate.

Instead we will persist, until we get our way.

If we show that we are strong, and can not be defeated, they will see that there is no choice but to give in to our reason.

We have waited for so long, sitting here in silence, putting up with injustice that always seems to find us.

Whether we are denied of water, food, or our own voice, they always find another way to strip us of our rights.

E.F. - Trapped

I am trapped.

All of us are trapped.

None of us are free.

There’s nothing we can do.

We live in a world Where white man rules And we are tossed aside.

We live in fear, powerless.

The white man has all control because we are in the white man’s land.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be the white man, to have all of the control, to have no fear, to be free.

But I am not the white man.

I am the enemy.

My back is pushed against the wall.

The white men corner us and take everything we love away.

They take what they want and they leave.

They strip us of the happiness we get when we laugh because we don't get to laugh anymore.

They take away the taste of knowledge we get when going to school because we don't get to go to school anymore.

They get rid of the burst of excitement when we step into our favorite store because we can't go into stores anymore.

They throw out all the good things in our lives.

We want freedom. We want equality.

All we want is a chance.

All we need is a place where we can live as we please.

All we want is to be the same as everyone else.

We just don't want to be trapped anymore.

C.C. - Hopeful Now we can hardly see, The way things used to be.

The days so long and cold, The dying young and old.

Carpets made of broken glass, Relentless storms that never pass.

Armies doing what they are told, Quieting those who may be bold.

Hungry families in the street, Frail bodies from lack of meat.

At the station the trains wait, Ready to show citizens their fate. Â Buildings filling up with smoke, Killing unsuspecting folk.

Disease spreads like wildfire, Making the death percentage higher.

Minuscule portions of stale food, Do not make for a better mood.

Families holding on so tight, Trying to make it through the night, Trying to win this endless fight.

Dreaming of the end so near, Trying hard to persevere.

Thinking back to the better days, When eyes were not glazed with a hateful haze.

Waiting for the rain to fall, For the voice of liberators in the hall.

Longing for the day when children, Won’t have to witness so much killing.

Why won’t this war end?

Why won’t we just befriend?

Even though we do contrast, Could we live as one at last?

J.T. They promised us land, all the land we wanted; it was supposed to be ours.

They lied.

They promised us homes; they said we would be living there with no problems.

They lied.

They promised us new lives, better lives; we were promised that we would love it there.

They lied.

They said it was our choice.

They lied.

We were forced to walk, old and young.

My brother is gone.

He has a new life now.

His pale face revealed no expression.

I remember him being buried.

Shedding a tear on his grave, I stopped and prayed, Prayed he was somewhere better, Prayed that we were going somewhere better But I knew that they had lied.

Many more died but we did not have time to bury them.

And when we got to the new land There was nothing, nothing at all but Weird trees and plants everywhere.

Nothing made sense.

The men that had brought us here left a little while after.

They left us with nothing but the clothes on our backs and the little food we could scavenge.

They lied.

K.B. - In a White World I am black.

I go to a black school.

I drink from the black water fountains.

I swim in black pools.

Yet, I live in a white world.

The white people call me names I dare not repeat.

They kill us and hurt us, inside and out.

In my dreams, I pretended I am a beautiful butterfly, that shimmers and flutters in an clear meadow, as free as can be.

But I am a black person in a white world.

That’s how I know it’s a dream.

I am not a real person, as though it seems.

I want to be free.

I want to be the person that I am.

I want to stun the world with my talents.

I want to breathe life into the earth.

That will never happen.

For I am black in a white world.

Freedom is close.

We can all sense it.

But nobody knows which path to take.

Is it the road, for which we have to fight?

And find it ourselves?

Or do we take the path,

that has a closed door at the end, and wait there until it is opened for us?

We all live in a white world.

We fight.

We fight with our hands and with our minds.

I know I’m breaking the rules, but it feels good, to stand up.

To fight.

To be free, in a white world.

I march the streets.

I listen to speeches.

I have been inspired.

I walk to school.

We all walk.

We won’t ride the bus.

We are fighting.

Fighting for black freedom in a white world.

Later on, I will look back.

I will remember.

I will remember our bravery, our pride our hope our fear.

I will remember being black, in a white world.

K.B. - Horrors of the Holocaust The Nazis came in the dead of night To drag us away from our beloved home forever.

We were forced into train cars Where many of my people got ill from disease.

Lives were given to the hands of death.

We arrived at a towering building That held the unknown.

We were taken in to get our numbers That then represented our names.

Little bunk beds were assigned For many people in one.

Frigid nights and thin blankets Caused people to freeze all over.

Lives were given to the hands of death.

Horrified, freezing, tortured to death Were the only things that people felt.

Hope was lost, final breaths were taken.

Gas chambers prepared.

Lives were given to the hands of death.

An awful stench was all we could smell For it was the bodies of my fellow friends and people.

Tears were shed while nightmares showed up Every time someone closed his eyes.

Disease broke out and food was given by the crumb.

Lives were given to the hands of death.

Families torn away from each other

Never to see their loved ones again.

Nazi’s hollering, babies wailing People torn from a world once loved.

As thin as sticks, people would work Day and night while being beat up for being slow.

Lives were given to the hands of death.

I watched helplessly as my friends and family Slowly walked to their death.

I was spared, but I was beaten For in those years I was there, There were many innocent Lives given to the hands of death.