In Common

In Common This world that is focused on discrimination Inequality Prejudice A world that is inherently Racist, sexist, homophobic A world that favours the rich above the poor A world of barriers not bridges Rubber coated bullets of lies and deceit A world of protectionist policies And barricades of hate That bombarded our heads And more frighteningly our hearts Building walls, closing borders, hiding in your glass towers But an airborne terror, unites us in fear A global enemy never encountered before No uniform Identification number Allegiance or leader Climbed over our manmade mountains Squeezed between the cracks in your lies and deceit Seeped through your pretences The barriers thought to be indestructible Slowly crumbled to the ground Dystopian fiction now a reality But as the world was locked down One man was knocked down Held down Forced down 8 minutes and 46 seconds Human connection reduced to a screen As we were contained inside four walls Was ignited with a spark of rage A fire burned brightly A fire so powerful it spread past borders And encompassed the world People will stay silent no longer So, for George Floyd. Breonna Taylor Tony McDade And every other life lost Because of institutionalised brutality United on the ground Chanting I can’t breathe While you bunker down Stand up, Fists raised No words needed But what is it that you fear When you perch on your capitalist thrones Or hide in your ivory towers Those who are different Or is it what you truly fear That there is far less that divides us Than what we have, In Common

by Elinor Hurry, Age 14

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