the long memory
written 11 September 2002 copyright © 2002-present James Sanghyun Han (a.k.a. steal this and DIE)
| call me trite but they told me not to forget as if i ever could how a man was killed for his "towel-head" how people suddenly became experts on international conflict when they had never read the news before call me cynical but they told me to observe and yet all i could observe was a bored people starved for a cause and matching scapegoat was a people quick to rally behind flag stickers though they'd never fulfilled their civic duty to vote call me dirty leftist but they told me to love my country as if i ever could after seeing "fuck all sand-niggers" scrawled on a bathroom stall after being honked at and flipped off for playing groovy Algerian music on my car stereo after seeing vengeance and jingoism replace intelligent policy after seeing item after item of right-wing agenda being carried out under the guise of national pride and protection and they told me to remember and yet all i can remember all i can think of is being told that the ability to see both sides is unpatriotic is being told that one cannot love one's country if one is ready to offer constructive criticism all i can think of is being told that thinking of the causes is wrong is being told that remembrance of wrongs is only allowed when the wrong has been done to us is being told that the long memory must yield to the short when the wrong is ours so all i can remember is my disappointment at my fellows cause they told me not to forget not to lose my long memory and i never could |