If anyone had said it’s water
that would cook the fish
I would have said a resounding
no!
It is with flatulence
an otherwise ill person
shows gratefulness!
Is it not because
of reference one
does good deeds?
A country was under apartheid
Most of the world stood still
Most African countries were Afrocentric
Segregation had to go
Little did we know
Our nemesis was coming
children who never learned history
were utterly Afrophobic
They claimed illegal aliens were taking their jobs
They claimed foreigners were selling drugs
They claimed migrants were stealing public utilities!
As if the so-called foreigners
never paid taxes
Indigenes were angels
who never committed crimes!
So they came for the foreign trader
And looted his shop
saying he undercut prices
and he doesn’t belong
but I said nothing
because I’m a legal immigrant!
They went into workplaces
and searched for paperless workers
finding them,
they beat them black and blue
declaring magisterially
that they bent the rules of the state
but I said nothing
because I had my papers!
Then, they came for the legal immigrants
claiming the law was not enough
saying their presence was a stain
But I never uttered a word
since I was born there
They came for the small employer
saying wages must rise
if not, justice dies
since I could still manage
I said nothing
because I was still employed!
I was absent from work
when they came for the job
resuming next day
I found my belongings outside
After picking them
I said nothing
Because I felt I could always get another!
But they came for me
Since I had nowhere to hide
I could not use healthcare services
My children could not go to school
I became a shadow of myself
I lost my dignity
I lost my sense of self-worth
and then, I realized that
if I had spoken
others might have joined me in resistance!
Inspired by the poem: First They Came by Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)
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