March
The last gasps of a since-passed thunderstorm hung
a veil over the full moon. The night unrolled
in a particular direction and a thousand people
followed its lead. They didn’t know
where it was headed. How can anyone know?
They didn’t care. Not about themselves
or their own safety. They cared about
the others, everyone else.
The march is its own statement. It is not a body or a group of bodies. It is The Body. It is the organism of peaceful, deliberate dissent against injustice. To be within that body isn’t just a First Amendment right. It is a human right. One that has been acted on throughout history. This isn’t a time to protect the status quo. After all, this was all brought on by doing things as usual.
I am reluctant to add (but must because this is how my brain works) that the right to dissent is an equal opportunity employer. Certain protections must be afforded those groups who would start at the status quo and shoot for worse. That is until and unless they forfeited those rights by some nefariousness. And I count Nationalist torch marches in that category. It’s an insult to everyone. You don’t have to be Jewish to recognize the permanent stain on Humankind left by the Third Reich. And glorifying it is, if not a crime, an…