Comments - "To Kneel" by Kathy Engel - Oppressed Peoples Online Word...The Voice Of The Voiceless
2024-03-19T10:20:29Z
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2019-01-03T06:03:25.536Z
Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص
https://oppressedpeoplesonlineword.ning.com/profile/2frvdhko3jtbx
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To Kneel
By Kathy Engel
The b…
tag:oppressedpeoplesonlineword.ning.com,2019-01-03:6273430:Comment:85126
2019-01-03T06:00:48.166Z
Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص
https://oppressedpeoplesonlineword.ning.com/profile/2frvdhko3jtbx
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-weight: bold;">To Kneel</strong></span></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-weight: bold;">By Kathy Engel</strong></span></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">The black men who make wages</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">from the brutal banging of the skull,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">pounding of the knees, arms</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">reaching like branches in the long</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">arc of a pass, now kneel.</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">The muscles of their souls,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">the soles of their cleats, stretch</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">of their thighs speak. Fans and refs</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">yell, commentators jabber and behold:</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">one knee, hand to ground,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">they kneel, the weight</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">of their built-up bodies </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">pulled earthward as if called </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">by those from before </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">to kneel <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">now</em>, refusing to salute</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">this country’s killing field. </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">Those with the heart to be the lonely</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">first; <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">their</em> knees sing. Jobs at stake,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">they kneel for the inheritors. For the future</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">dignity of bodies to choose to stand</span></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">or touch down. And the joining, too --</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">some, then flocks, arms threaded,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">waving flags of jersey-ed bodies,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">an anthem, for the uncountable – </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">to be counted. And to those</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">who drop to the knee</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">only in the recesses of a locked</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">back room or those who switch and bait</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">in the light, amid the throngs—or those </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">who hide behind their whiteness—</span></p>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: georgia; font-size: 22.53px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 31.54px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 27.04px 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">who will be there to kneel for you</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">when such a time comes, as it <strong style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-weight: bold;"><em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">will</em></strong></span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">come? What will you say when</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">your children or your grandchildren,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">their friends or lovers ask</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">what parts of your bodies </span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">touched the ground</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">in the moment of loyalty,</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">or the moment of betrayal?</span><br style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;"/><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636;">What would I?</span></p>