In light of the recent budget proposed by the Trump Administration that will cut off an estimated 10 million low income people from the SNAP program (food stamps) and Medicaid (health care) while lining the pockets of the wealthy; when the president can sign an $11 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia but not propose a budget that provides health care for all; when people are swept off the streets for no other reason than they are undocumented; when racism and disdain for the poor have become national policy; when telling the truth is a matter of convenience and not principle at the highest levels of government; when those charged to lead are beholden to lobbyists and special interest groups rather than the people they are elected to represent; when Black lives don’t matter, nor the lives of children or disabled or women or immigrants; when religious leaders all too often preach a message of private personal salvation rather than calling people forth to speak their mind and live out their faith in the public square.
When all of these things are going on and more, I find these words from Maya Angelou to be powerfully relevant:
America
The gold of her promise
has never been mined
Her borders of justice
not clearly defined
Her crops of abundance
the fruit and the grain
Have not fed the hungry
nor eased that deep pain
Her proud declarations
are leaves on the wind
Her southern exposure
black death did befriend
Discover this country
dead centuries cry
Erect noble tablets
where one can decry
“She kills her bright future
and rapes for a sou
Then entraps her children
I beg you
Discover this country.
