Dear Friends,
After the violent, hate-filled march which took place in Charlottesville this past weekend, it has become clear that that voices of hated and intolerance must be defeated by forces of love and acceptance. Among the many public statements made by politicians and clergy over the course of the past several days, this poem contains a powerful message for all of us to consider.
We Will Not Yield
Today,
I am neither Democrat nor Republican,
Neither left nor right nor center.
I am an American,
Born to a legacy of truth and justice,
Born to a legacy of freedom and equality.
Today, I am a patriot
Who will not yield this nation to hate.
Not to neo-Nazis.
Not to thugs self-styled as militia.
Not to slogans or chants.
Not to gestures or flags.
Not to threats and not to violence.
Hate is hate,
Ugly and brutal,
And we will not yield.
Today,
I am Christian, Muslim and Jew,
Catholic, Buddist, Hindu and Sikh,
Atheist and agnostic.
I am Asian, Latino, Hispanic, African American, White, Native American and multi-racial.
I am an immigrant, a child of the American Revolution, A veteran and a soldier.
I work in the dark depth of the mines
And the high towers of Wall Street,
In the factories and the farms,
In our hospitals and strip malls.
I am gay, lesbian, straight, bi, trans,
Man, woman and gender-neutral.
I am young, old, blind and deaf,
Hearing and sighted,
Disabled,
Powerful and unafraid.
Truth is truth,
That all are created equal,
And we will not yield.
Today, I am an American,
A citizen of the United States,
A child of this great democracy,
A child of this wise republic,
Dedicated to liberty,
Dedicated to action.
We will not yield.
—-
http://tobendlight.com/2017/08/we-will-not-yield/
“We Will Not Yield” is © 2017 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com (Rights to share and reproduce the text in full and unmodified are granted on the condition that the copyright line above is included.)