Memphis Plus 43 (or: Some Things Have Gotten Better, Some Haven’t)

Monday, April 4th, 2011

In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death 43 years ago today on April 4, 1968 at 6:01 p.m., here are 43 poems about racism, hatred, intolerance, violence, and how to deal with them.

“April 4. Shot rings out in the Memphis sky. Free at last. They took your life. They could not take your pride.” — U2

Another year has passed,

With even more racism than the last.

It’s not nearly as bad as in Dr. King’s day,

But that doesn’t mean it’s gone away.

It’s been exactly 43 years since Dr. King was killed,

So here are 43 poems about people who still with hatred are filled.

Or check out our violence series (it’s quite a collection).

No time to read them all? Then here’s a selection:

1. 50 Years of “Democracy” in DC
2. A Tale of Two Cities
3. A Watched Teapot
4. Alien Attack (or, Shoot the President and Win A Prize)
5. Angled Up in Blue (or maybe that should be Tangled Up in View)
6. Arsonists (or, Inciting the Lesser Angels of Our Nature)
7. Ballots Versus Bullets
8. Because They’re Black
9. Dallas
10. Death of a Hater
11. Death to Dictators (or, Is Glenn Beck Suggesting Obama’s Assassination?)
12. Does Obama Hate His Mama?
13. Effigy
14. Feeding Stray Animals
15. Gates-Gate (or, Dealing with the Brew-haha)
16. Going Drouge
17. Guillermo Jorton (or, They Don’t Look Like Canadian Terrorists to Me)
18. Hail to the Rednecks
19. Haters
20. Health Haters
21. I’m Not Racist (I Just Don’t Like Minorities)
22. Immoral Equivalence
23. In Memory of a DC Institution
24. Is Joe Wilson a racist?
25. Isolated Incidents (or, Your Tea Is Ready)
26. Joe and Gerrymandering
27. McVeigh and Today
28. Neanderthals (or, Mixing Things Up)
29. No Justice with this Justice
30. Que Sherrod Sherrod?
31. Radical Surgery
32. Re-Joyce
33. Rise of the Old Right (or, No Bad Idea Ever Really Dies)
34. Southern Right Wingers
35. Sue Shirley Sue
36. The Base Card
37. The Monster
38. The Price is Wrong… Again
39. The Race Card
40. The Vanishing
41. Valley Club Blues
42. We Are All African-American Homos
43. What’s Your Excuse? (or, The Tancredo Credo)

Is that enough racism, hatred, intolerance, and violence for you?

I thought so (it’s enough for me too).

No, it’ll never be entirely gone,

But if we can reduce it little by little, Dr. King will have

            Won.

***

Here’s your theme music for today, U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) from a 1984 concert.

Tags: Civil rights, hatred, Intolerance, King, Memorials, Racism, segregation, Violence
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