July 20, 2020 · 2:03 pm
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Yet You Are Blind – poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: http://www.pedestrian.tv Photo shows indigenous Australians as prisoners, shackled at Roebourn gaol, 1896. Today the rate of indigenous incarceration is high at %29 of the total prison population. There is little sign of that changing, not any change in the underlying and predisposing issue of poverty and inequality.

“Racism is a disease in society. We’re all equal. I don’t care what their colour is, or religion. Just as long as they’re human beings they’re my buddies.” Mandawy Yunupingu 

Yet You Are Blind

You can see clearly
yet you are blind to
the plight of your neighbour,
stealing their humanity for the
price of their lives which paid for 
the privilege of your wilful ignorance,
paved in the blood of their dignity,
bargained for the murderous dogma
prosecuted in the name of your right
to smile on suffering and misery
as you squash their lives for the turn 
of a dollar and smug satisfaction of
the exercise of your power.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

41 Comments

Filed under community, identity, Indigenous, life, poem, quote, Racism

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41 responses to “Yet You Are Blind – poem by Paul Vincent Cannon”

  2. Msdedeng
    July 20, 2020 at 3:48 pm

    That picture provokes a thousand thoughts, but I don’t know which one I feel more sorry for; the one in chains whose dignity has been trampled by a fellow man, or the one feeling smug oblivious to his inadequacy.

    Like

    Reply
  3. V.J. Knutson
    July 20, 2020 at 4:06 pm

    Those last two lines illustrate it all so well. How blind we can be and how injust.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. Hannah Gandhi
    July 20, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    This poem speaks volumes! Such an important message and I hope that one day we see the long awaited change 🌸✨

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Liz Gauffreau
    July 20, 2020 at 11:18 pm

    I’ve never understood the thinking that other human beings can be displaced, abused, and exterminated for the sake of power and profit, as if by some divine right. Where does that kind of arrogance come from?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Chris Hall
    July 21, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    An appalling indictment of colonialism. Here too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. OIKOS™-Publishing
    July 21, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    Very well written. You would have to say it to some politicians. But I think they will still understand. We are in a pre-Napoleonic time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. Megha's World
    July 23, 2020 at 1:26 am

    Very powerful and speaks of the injustice Carrie in the native population for so many nations.
    Same us the plight of Native Americans

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. nitinsingh
    July 27, 2020 at 3:44 am

    lovely, post thnx to share

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. lync56
    July 28, 2020 at 11:04 am

    Such a powerful poem of a very sad reality

    >

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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