Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Take it Down!

Jermaine Rogers *


Take It Down!

It don't symbolize
sarsaparilla or mint
julip or magnolia
blossoms floating
in soft summer sun
It don't symbolize 
sweet sugar sounds
moving slow-sliding
like strap-molasses
no more than than
a swastika symbolize
-sweet apple strudel
It sure don't symbolize
Southern - Dig - 
nity - Nothing
dignified about
hauling up hatred
up on mast....
So stand up and - 
Take it down ...

~





* thank you to Jermaine Rogers for graciously granting his permission to post his brilliant cartoon with this   poem ...

14 comments:

  1. Indeed - I think it was Judge Judy who said "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything..." Enough already. I'm sure she didn't have this flag in mind but I'm also sure she's happy with the number of people standing tall on this issue at long last. Good poem Pearl. And great cartoon to go with.

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  2. Good for you :-) Yes! Take it down.
    ZQ

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  3. So correct.. interestingly enough it's a recent thing to put it up.. I think it's time to pull down such symbols.

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  4. Fabulous Pearl and love cartoon....it says it all as does your poem....to say this flag represents anything other than hatred is ridiculous.

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  5. Flags should say what a country is not what it was. It should be unifying and not separatist. Sadly this happens in many places even to an extent in Australia where Britain's Union Jack still sits in a corner as though we are still their dominion yet Canada with a similar history now has their own identity.

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  6. "So stand up and take it down"---even though the cartoon depicts a fictitious scene...it hits close to what is the truth too often..people ignorantly and stubbornly defending that which they don't even truly understand the ramifications of. You make that point well."

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  7. Yes, great cartoon, and great points you make in response.

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  8. Yes, Pearl. So true. The comparison with the swastika is apt. It is time that Confederate flat is taken down & buried.

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  9. .....Hauling up hatred on a mast.......yes, let's take it down.

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  10. exactly & that needs a bit of courage...great lines...

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  11. If it's not necessary and could divide, it should be taken down ASAP.

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  12. Yes - no flag of bigotry should be held aloft...

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  13. A great social activism poem. I agree.

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