The Debate That Typically Ends In More Scars
A vent piece that I finished a while ago that had also been swirling in my head for a while before I finished it. Back then I was dissatisfied with the name I gave this poem but now I think it’s decent and straight to the point. Anyway this was originally posted in December 2022.
The Debate That Typically Ends In More Scars
By: A.X. Bueno
It doesn't feel like it matters how much time has passed or how much things have changed
The debate over the existence of people like me takes cruel turns with actions deranged
That feels like the constant of my life watching people debate and plan without regard
Over and either for or against those who come from south of our border through various means
They are who usually get pinned with blame or hate when things go wrong so they stay on guard
More often than not because they are seen as mere living burdens by those who the law leans
Leans for and in favor of over many who just wanted a better place to call home
But instead continue to be scapegoated and hated by those who still prefer their labor to machines
For all the contributions and labor they give they're given disrespect and often awful conditions
They deal with that and the adjustment to a place they just wanted refuge in, forced harder than others to keep squeaky clean
And even if they do everything right there's still a good chance they'll be pushed and moved around
Back to their homes, which are viewed as beneath the one now crushing them and their ambitions
A sick irony that when pointed out is excused by expecting the desperate to stay and fight whatever problems made them leave their hometown
The problems that some would foolishly believe travel with those who leave their homes
Thinking that if you let too many of those “people from those places" in soon in their problems will they might drown
Not acknowledging the sources of those problems or the broad scope of them that exceeds
Pretending like the problems can be solved at an individual level or are isolated from here
All to be able keep treating whole groups of people like pesky, life draining weeds
Thinking that there's walls big or sturdy enough or policies and agents so cruel they'll instill fear
The right kind of fear that breaks people and keeps others away
Yet many will still risk it for various reasons of their own continuing this cycle of brutality
And it'll be the same responses as does
“Look at (insert statistic here) we can't afford for them to keep coming "
Or “they just shouldn't have come here illegally" and “it's not our fault for their child endangerment" they'll bray
Ignoring how hard coming here “legally" really is and acting like the law always works and is fair
Never considering the people who want the chance to live their lives and the loads they bear
The lives and families torn apart, everything they know flipped upside down after all they can't stay
And then they have to deal with that trauma again and again by people debating who belongs here and they almost never get a say
Doesn't feel worth the risk to be caught up in trying to figure out who'll understand
It's all so exhausting but that's the reality for myself and so many more
And I really wish it wasn't
I wish treating people who took the “wrong way to get here" decently and giving them a chance wasn't seen as some impossible demand
To not be seen as some kind of infecting rot
For taking care of others, especially the vulnerable and displaced be seen as a duty not a chore
Is it too hard to at least be shown a little humanity and compassion before lives are ruined and we're threatened with and shown the door?