Spirituality for Today – January 2008 – Volume 12, Issue 6

Immipartheid

By Bill Dahl

Photo of a crowd of people with their hands raisedMillions living among us.
Children walking to school.
Pledging allegiance to our flag,
Wondering about the Golden Rule.
Gray market employment,
Wages less than fair.
Economically exploited
Do U.S. citizens really care?
Separate and unequal.
Millions forced to hide.
Living and breathing hope,
The reality of immipartheid.
Liberty and justice -
For some but not for others.
Tears flow from the hearts,
Of undocumented fathers and mothers.
Legislative limbo,
Has established a segregated people.
The majority gathers on Sunday,
To worship beneath the steeple.
Self-righteous, fear-laden fervor,
Legitimizes what observers find so odd.
Is legislated oppression
Condoned by Almighty God?

Mere existence in our midst,
Adjudicated guilty without trial.
Tolerating our own intolerance,
Comfortable in our denial.
Illegal's, criminals and aliens -
Terms used to demonize their plight.
As undocumented men and women,
Clean America's offices at night.
Powerless to advocate an outcome.
Silently adrift in this life's boat.
Perhaps we might lend a hand,
They've earned the right to vote.
What about the bi-lingual students,
Those who excel in English, science and math?
Teachers for the next generation,
Absent citizenship's path.
Excuse, piled upon excuse -
Buried in dishonest justification.
Eliminating immipartheid
Shall provide oxygen to our Nation.
Let's wipe out immipartheid,
Courageously approach this fundamental task.
Let's lift the veil that obscures the truth,
We can't hide behind racism's mask.
Building our homes, harvesting our crops
With hammers, picks, hoes, and axes.
Employers take deductions from their pay

And fail to remit the taxes.
Counterintuitive as it may seem,
Our attitudes must make a shift.
Unraveling immipartheid,
May contain our greatest gift.
Children of One Maker,
Created equal one and all.
We mighty one's must bend,
To help the disadvantaged when they call.
Can we continue going on,
Looking the other way?
Unwilling and unrepentant,
Is Immipartheid here to stay?
The whole world is watching.
Will our hollow slogans become action?
Resolving immipartheid,
Restores U.S. integrity with traction.
The duplicity of it all,
Is the essence of what I abhor.
"Liberty and Justice for All!
Yet, immipartheid we ignore.
Oh, sweet land of the free.
Home of the brave.
Let's eradicate immipartheid!
This must become our rave.
Rise up America!
It's time to face the blame.

Rid our land of this disease.
Immipartheid is its name.