PTSD & Racism

We accept that post-traumatic stress disorder is real and has long-term consequences that can permeate multiple generations. Victims and even witnesses of violence can carry emotional scars that affect their relationships with spouses, family and children long after the abuse ends.

We sympathize with veterans who are unable to have functional relationships with family and friends due to the trauma of war. We recognize the difficulties that survivors of childhood sexual abuse have in building trusting relationships with adults. We respect them for their courage in facing the demons from their past.

So why is it that we dismiss the trauma that generations of BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) have suffered at the hands of white people. Multiple generations of black people who have watched their grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren treated like animals by white people. Multiple generations of indigenous people who witnessed genocide perpetrated on their loved ones by white people. Multiple generations of Asian people who have been beaten and called derogatory names by white people.

BIPOC survivors of multi-generational trauma are dismissed as lazy or unmotivated or angry or ungrateful, even as white people continue to traumatize them. These survivors should be respected for their courage and strength in facing demons that keep coming back.

Until white people accept that we are the demons there will be no change. Until we accept that race is a pernicious myth invented by us to exert our domination over people with different colored skin, there will be no healing.

21st Century Strange Fruit

The murder of Black people by police
in 21st Century America Is nothing less than
the continuation of 2oth Century lynching.

Black bodies hanging from trees is now
Black bodies beaten on social media.

White eyes turned away then
and turn away now.

White Cocoon

Here in northern New England, the houses
are mostly white and so are the people.
The nighttime silence is only broken by
an 18-wheeler a mile away on the interstate.
I see racial injustice online and on TV,
but it’s far away and unreal because
I’m not on the receiving end of the abuse.
I’m not afraid for the lives of my
two adolescent great-grandsons.
I’m not in danger if stopped by the police.
Everyone in town knows me.
I’m white. I fit in.

I often feel ashamed of my privilege
and my inability to make a difference.
My contributions to Americares,
the Native American Heritage Association
and the Southern Poverty Law Conference
spread salve on the shame but don’t amount to much.
Watching musicians from around the world
in Playing for Change videos makes me
feel like I’m part of something.
But in the end I’m just a privileged
white guy in a white cocoon.

Jim Crow Justice

On the racial spectrum of black to white,
Americans experience more power and privilege
the closer the color of their skin is to white,
and less power and privilege the closer it is to black.

Covert Comfort

I live in covert racist comfort,
self-assured in my sympathy
for the injustices people of color
endure every day of their lives
in the land of the free
and the home of the brave.

Reality Check

Honest, compassionate
and positive Americans
are in the majority in
both political parties.

It's up to all of us
to take back our country
from the rich, greedy minority
that is willing to destroy
the economy and the environment
to amass enormous wealth.

Don't think someone else
will do it. It's up to each
and every one of us.

The death of love

My heart will break
when the last breath
passes the lips I will
forever long to kiss,
but I will savor the joy
you brought to my life
until the last breath
passes mine.

Father’s Day

I could have done better,
worked less, played more,
talked less, listened more,
scolded less, hugged more,
failed less, earned more.
And modeled better
self esteem, self assurance
self control and endurance.

But I didn’t.

Dangerous Orange Clown

His clownish persona
obscures his true danger.
His way of lying is not a joke.
It’s a deliberate strategy to disable
our capacity to think in the realm of truth.

Our responsibility as citizens in a democracy
is to recognize his strategy for what it is
and to resist its assault on our democracy.
We must come together, listen to each other,
organize our efforts and restore truth.

Aging love

As I look across the table
at your graying hair
and the lines in your face,
I still see the young woman
with the seductive eyes
and the entrancing smile
that captured my heart
more than 50 years ago.

The gray and the lines
are the medals
you have earned
for your bravery
and your determination
to not leave the battlefield
that has often been
our relationship.