“Streets of Philadelphia to Streets of Minneapolis

 

While walking in the streets of Philadelphia
You saw your reflection in a window.
You heard the voices of friends vanished and gone.
You could feel yourself fading away.
Without a trace
Just went into oblivion.

The hardships and isolation
Hopelessness and dejection
Whatever that consumed the human spirit

Still active and emerging as an evil power

Many witnessed but forgotten

Many saw but kept their mouths shut

Did not speak up

Maintained silence

Philadelphia to Minneapolis
We saw human misery and injustices.
Rising of Totalitarianism
The law of the iron fist

How things changed drastically.
We saw Neil Diamond's "Sweet Land of Liberty"
Turned into a police state overnight
Creating a mass fear and submission

What did you see, and what did you feel?
When you walked on the streets of Minneapolis,
Through the winter's ice and cold
Did you see blood-covered streets?

What happened to the right to life?
Freedom of opinion and expression?
No more legal protections
Is someone there restricting liberty and freedom?

The conflict of moral witnessing
You may be a distant observer.
What is it truly about?
Negation of reality by state power
Illegitimacy of state violence

From Philadelphia to Minneapolis
We saw totalitarianism and "reality control."
However, things changed from invisibility to visibility.
Led to question the ideologically driven version of reality

by Ruwan M Jayatunge