Uncomfortable Poetry

Masses upon masses of stolen lives,

Entombed and forgotten,

In the name of religion and colonization.

Belief in an impotent God,

Hides a heinous desire,

Led by privilege and entitlement of white.

Hidden away and covered over,

No sacred rituals said,

No gravestones to mark your final resting place.

And now we weep for you,

One thousand and climbing,

A stolen generation, no longer forgotten.

For over three hundred and thirty days

A false victory from a broken system

So... again... the black man pays.

Such anger has set the city ablaze

A backdrop for their resistance

For over three hundred and thirty days.

White man on trial is commended and raised

And truly on trial? Is the victim

So... again... the black man pays.

Up on the court is a world's gaze

We sit watching from a distance

For over three hundred and thirty days.

The system continues to discriminate

Based on a white supremacist tradition

So... again... the black man pays.

No accountability is a malaise

Such injustices are a symptom

For over three hundred and thirty days.

So... again... the black man pays.

The contracts gone

But you want them to adhere to it.

You broke the contract

But you think it is all their fault.

Your actions are problematic

But you want them to change.

Hey white New Zealander

Māori is not your birthright

I know you love our culture

But it's not yours to appropriate

Or disseminate and create

A profit from it

It's not showing your love

Or sharing your gifts

But showing your privilege

As the coloniser

And then you complain

When we voice opposition

You block the flow of conversation

To why you're wrong

You take our sacred symbols

Much like colonisers of the past

You didn't even bother to ask

Before you claimed and twisted

So hey white New Zealander

Find another way to show you 'care'

Another style of art to share

And make your profit from.

Dear white person. Yes, I too am white

Wasn't it a nice feeling to be in the spotlight

To help out coloured sisters and brothers

To say we've got their backs covered

But dear white person. Yes, you

Wasn't it great until the protest grew?

And then it became dangerous and threatening

Creating thoughts that were rather unsettling

Now white person, you decide to take a break

Change takes too long and you have nothing at stake

You're slightly bored and a little fatigued

After all, it is not you who bleeds

Lucky for you and also lucky for me

We have white privilege and what this means

Is we can take a break and still feel good

We participated because we could

But dear white person, please understand

They can't take a break, they don't have the upper hand

Their enemies are many and their lives are at stake

So please remember this when you take that break.

One man kneels

Peaceful protest

And you say

Not the time

Not the place.

A woman stands against the thin blue line

Peaceful protest

And you say

Serves her right

if they react with violence.

A group now marches

Peaceful protest

They should just do as they’re told

Serves them right

They’re asking for trouble.

The city now burns

No longer peaceful but still protesting

Who cares what you say

For you should have listened

Four verses ago.

It’s not going away

Forever protesting

Five verses ago

It was the right time

It was the right place.

#BlackLivesMatter

#YouChoseNotToListen

#Consequences

Knowingly

One phone call,

And white middle class

Becomes an act of violence.

Abhorrent

Premeditated,

Pathetic white fragility

Plays upon that fact to cause harm.

Racist

Such malignance.

Your spitefulness

Is not borne of the fear you pretend.

Evil

Pretence

Mired in white supremacy,

And the self-entitlement of being white.

Masses upon masses of stolen lives,

Entombed and forgotten,

In the name of religion and colonization.

Belief in an impotent God,

Hides a heinous desire,

Led by privilege and entitlement of white.

Hidden away and covered over,

No sacred rituals said,

No gravestone to mark your final resting place.

And now we weep for you,

One thousand and climbing,

A stolen generation, no longer forgotten.

Now...

Each month brings new pain and sorrow,

Two thousand and climbing;

Three thousand and climbing; will it ever end?

Four thousand, five thousand,

While a world forgets,

Leaving those affected to suffer in silence.

But we must make them remember,

Six, seven thousand and climbing;

Genocide in the name of God.

Boys need to stop being “boys”

So stop mucking around

It's not just a bit of fun

Do you even know how you sound?

We are not ruining the joke

And we will hound the "boys"

We don't have to be part of the team

We are not just your toys.

If we spoil your good time

Because we will not be subjugated

You are just a pathetic bully

And we will not be humiliated

We will not get over it

Enough is finally enough

You shouldn't be okay with this

But you are the problem, not us!

At first, he took a knee

And paid the price for his protest

And the status quo remained.

Then she stood in silent protest

To be met with violence

And the status quo remained.

Then they marched for their lives

Only to end in tears

And the status quo remained.

The city burned

Set by false protesters

And the status quo remained.

Laws are changing

But not their actions

For the status quo remains.

When will there be

An eye for an eye

If the status quo remains.

When will there be

A tooth for a tooth

If the status quo remains.

For there needs to be a reckoning

As history has taught us

For the status quo to change.

Stop stealing our culture!

It is not yours to appropriate

You think that because you like it

That you can just take.

Stop stealing our culture!

Like vile degenerate colonials prior,

Who raped and pillaged,

And our sacred symbols acquired.

Stop stealing our culture!

It is not yours to profit from.

You did nothing to strengthen, or build,

Or to enhance our nation.

Stop stealing our culture!

We are not your latest trend

And you are not being innovative.

You are just an untalented thief.

Keeping New Zealand green

Is more than just a slogan

It means keeping our country clean

But the system is broken

We drop our litter where we please

Simply because we are too lazy

It ends up in our seas

And shows that we are crazy

For we destroy the very soul

Of our whenua, our land

Now Nature’s bell has tolled

We must join her and make a stand.

Thin blue line

Does it make you feel strong to take a life?

So inept

And so afraid.

Overgunned yet undersized

Does it make you feel big this need to control?

So incapable

Pathetically small.

We call you out

Can you not see your power, corruption, biases?

Undertrained

Unable to change.

Racially discriminate

Tell us again why all lives don’t truly matter

It’s white supremacy

On show to a world disgusted.

You want blue lives to matter

Can you not see that black lives must matter first?

It went viral

And I didn't even know you

But I watched

And then I cried.

It went viral

I heard your voice waver

But I listened

And I hoped.

It went viral

I saw you try to do the right thing

But he was panicking

And I felt your fear.

It went viral

He crossed that thin blue line

But I watched

And I wish to God I hadn't.

It went viral

And now loved ones left

Will be reminded

Because it went viral.

Pathetic little troll

Targeting women

Demanding like a squawking bird.

We don’t owe you!

Thinking your ‘the man’

While reality shows

You are just another pathetic little boy.

We don’t owe you!

You won’t listen to reason

That is not your aim

It is all about control of women.

We don’t owe you!

White world Black life

White killer Black dies

White acquitted Black cries

White excuses Black fights

Nothing changes For black lives.