Fences also came as immigrants,
carefully disassembled and tucked
between the interpretations of the "Books
in the Old Testament,"
neatly printed in the misinterpreted yellow journalism
of Spencer and Darwin.
Others were stuffed in old envelopes
(hidden in the lines of letters,
whose wrinkled yellow shadiness, evidenced
pages that were read again and again
for indoctrination purposes). Diligently they were kept
to be reassembled as pillars in our laws
and the grand structure of pious euphemisms,
(with their believers unaware that cries of "Manifest Destiny"
would become a deliberate process of ongoing subjugation),
and the walls of enclosure to the free mental movement
of the endogenous masses. In cleaver disguises, as
methods to ensure civil obedience, these fences went
undetected
Unlike the ones that came as immigrants, however,
the earliest ones we erected on the landscape
were noticed and unwanted,
for back then (in the beginning) we valued the open range
and the freedom to chart our own course, and to move freely
--without obstruction to ourselves and others.
So these first barriers of discrimination on the new land created resentments;
the critters complained, wailed, groaned, and lamented these hindrances
to enjoying the cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes;
the cattle simply accepted their fate as prisoners;
the buffaloes and wolves fought back against these barriers
--and lost.
Fortunately, these fences disturbing the soil were few,
and we took time every day to carefully mend them
and to erect them only when absolutely necessary,
like around the forts and the parameters of the jails --just a few.
Unfortunately, we slowly began making more and more
and more of them:
big ones, high ones, strong ones, big and high ones,
strong and big ones -- more and more and
more of them everywhere. Made in barbed wire, chicken wire,
vinyl, bamboo, stockade, metal, split rail, board-on-board,
louvered, lattice, cement, stone, chain link, cyclone, ornate
wrought iron, aluminum, deer, plastic, PVC -- electric...
more and more of them everywhere,
around homes, schools, businesses, farms, communities,
-- churches!
"To keep them out" we told ourselves.
"To lock them up" we told ourselves.
"For safety reasons" we told ourselves.
"To protect our property" we told ourselves.
"To set boundaries" we told ourselves.
"Race, creed, color, ethnicity, or socio-economic status
has nothing to do with it," we told ourselves.
And to prove this point our current plan is to build more:
Bigger ones, higher one, stronger ones in this country
-- in all states.
On foreign soil we will tear down the cultural, moral, and spiritual enclosures
that proud and noble civilizations erected;
without regards to the moral manner of disposition.
(Blowing them up should never be an option,
especially when we know
that children -- pure, precious and pretty, are playing "tag" nearby.)
Yet, we blow them up, and tear other nations down,
Then we make new fences: bigger,
stronger, and higher ones in bright yellow paint.
We don't mend fences anymore.
"To keep them out" we will tell ourselves.
"To lock them up" we will tell ourselves.
"For safety reasons" we will tell ourselves.
"To protect our property" we will tell ourselves.
"To set boundaries" we will tell ourselves.
"Race, creed, color, ethnicity, or socio-economic status
has nothing to do with it," we will tell ourselves,
while the biggest, strongest, and highest
fences that also came as immigrants will remain
-- undetected,
just like our ironic gift
to ourselves:
Life in prison -- without
the possibility of parole!
by James A. Porter
