Mr. President / 2017
I have always seen myself as a witness. In my paintings always you see, a watching eye. I try not to take sides and let everyone do their own thing. Your lessons are yours and my lessons are mine. But watching what is happening around me now, makes it very hard to sit back and say nothing. Atlas write them down.
Mr. President / 2017
My heart aches to watch the division
you have envisioned
The white man against the brown
the blue eyed against the black
The ones that look different than you
It has always been there
for years I have known prejudice exists
I came here in 1979 when only 13
they threw stones at me
the kids of my school
They blamed me for taking their hostages
but they never understood
that the men that took their men
took my country too
Carter threw the Shah away
he was your man
also blue eyed
He wanted our gold
our black gold
and that was his justification
The only people I trusted and helped my kind
were the black people
the ones that I used to watch on tv
when I was 11
as bad people and mean
But I learned so fast
that they were my friends
they knew how it felt
they knew how it felt
to be brown
to be prejudiced against
To judge me and my intention
by looking at my hair color or hearing my accent
Yes it’s me
the immigrant
the Jew
the Moslem
the one that is not like you
Be scared of me
I cover my hair
not because I have to
because I want to
because I need to
if you too were spiritual
you would understand
but you are a 5-year-old spirit
one that needs to learn much
go through the pain
and then maybe
after many returns
you too will sit and watch hate
take over all people and separate
You too will wonder
if your kids and grandkids will be safe
in a country so full of hate
with greed and dishonesty
lurking over their head
You sit there on the bench
ordering men to be deported and separated
you order and you don’t know
how your soul will pay for your mistakes
My son asks me if I want you dead;
I am of love and should not say
but I must be truthful
I want you dead
not because of me but you see
I wish Hitler had died too
He was the one that brought pain to many
the guilt and the shame to a country
its people will forever be
the fascist kind and scary
Now the Americans are the ones
the world should be scared of
the lesson I learned when I was 13
Today at age 50
I see the same thing
I confirm
Americans are prejudice.
P/S. To be safe, you got to be in the eye of the hurricane.
