Evil Exists Across Our Land

In the early morning hours I spent some time in Stride Toward Freedom, Martin Luther King Jr.'s story of the Montgomery bus boycott. I was moved by one of his sentences:  "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."  These words prompted the following words.

In the early morning hours

Not long till the break of day
There are those who are working
Just to torment and have their way.

Politics of the powerful

It sure looks like that to me
I hope I am wrong
It is before us now we see.

In the early morning hours

While people’s hearts are at rest
Some are already plotting harm
Wounding the souls of the best.

Yes, evil exists across our land

It hides in every shadow
It looks and lurches at any moment
Until it finds its prey, no matter.

Destruction is on their lips

Chaos is in their renown
The intent is very clear
To turn things upside down.

In the hearts and in the decisions

Of the one and the many
Spirits of people are at risk
Of malevolence there is plenty.

Our institutions have deserted us

Toward whiteness and maleness
They cast aside all others
Lord, bring back your holiness.

The people in power are jealous

For their positions and fame
While the poor and the homeless
Live with emotional pain.

Racial epithets are hurled through the crowd

The words pierce the soul
Of those who are young
And those who are old.

Racism sexism classism

Just a few
Bigotry and xenophobia
Around things people spew.
 
Policies are made by the powerful
Behind doors that are closed
Things get re-arranged
But evil gets exposed.

We gather up people and send them away

Young and old, bad and the good
Just because their names
Are not understood.

That black woman is in harm’s way

That Muslim teen is at risk
She who is transgendered
They all are summarily dismissed.
 
Acceptance of evil when we see it
Makes out of all of us
Perpetrators and cooperators
Until our bodies are dust.

Causes are righteous

They bring out our best
We will not live at peace
Until the people sleep and rest.