No.139: This is Normative.

The worst part of seeing your people killed every month, 
hunted every week,
abused every day, 
harassed every hour
isn't the panic attack when she hears the sirens, 
or the infants and children crying, 
or the knee jabbed into her skull,
or the shock of tasers biting.
It isn't the violence, the death, 
the acquittal, 
the short-lived hashtag.

The worst part of being oppressed

by a Nazi-approved regime--I mean
a theocracy with problematic theologies--I mean
a racially monopolized democracy of
supposedly God-fearing people who, 
when you say your life matters, ask
why,
deflect,
move on to the next segment,

is not the oppression itself.

It is not even
the physical and economic consequences
of such systemic influence.
No, the worst part is

we get used to it.

No.139: This is Normative.

Cover Photo by Spenser on Unsplash