Maybe Racial Hatred Is Baked In

Martin Luther King, Jr., is speaking on a podium. A mixed-race-and-ages circle is holding hands and dancing in a cloud above his head.

Hear me read
the poem as
an MP3 file.

Watch me read
the poem as
an MP4 file.

Audio and Video Music:
Renaissance Castle.
By Doug Maxwell.
Music free to use
at YouTube.
Photo Credit: AI

Alpha List

Name Poems

Philosophical
Poems

Poems for
MLK's Birthday

About This
Site

Poems for
Free

Copyright by
Nicholas Gordon

Maybe racial hatred is baked in,
A trait evolved through natural selection.
Remember the doctrine of original sin:
That cleansing of the soul requires salvation.
If racial territoriality,
Not at home except with one's own kind,
Looking, staring at others resentfully,
Unwinding zero-sum games in one's mind,
Takes conversion rather than conversation,
Human nature being tribal still,
Even in a multi-nation nation,
Reason rarely touching deep-down will:
Knowing this, what happens to my dream?
Individual souls can be reborn.
Need faith a whole society redeem?
Given time, can humanity reform?
Just remember: Though dreams may light the way,
Real change, in fits and starts, comes day by day.

Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.

Subscribe to this site on Substack

Subscribe to this site on YouTube

Subscribe to this site on Medium

Follow this site on Facebook

Follow this site on Instagram