If we cannot now end

Our differences,

At least we can help

Make the world safe

For diversity.

           John Fitzgerald Kennedy

America’s

Great industrialized cities

Were built by the sweat and blood

Of diverse ethnic immigrants

Who worked hand in hand

To build them

These cities were once

Marvelous places

To raise one’s family

To worship one’s god

To respect one’s neighbors

To enjoy life’s simple pleasures

City residents attended ethnic festivals

Learned the richness of other cultures

Ate ethnic foods

In quaint

Mom and Pop restaurants

With diverse menus

That offered delicious

Home-made fare

From around the globe

City residents

Delighted in patronizing

Jewish Delicatessens

Italian Bakeries

Lithuanian Drug Stores

German Hardware Stores

Chinese Laundries

Korean Restaurants

Polish Buffets

Mexican Cantinas

African American

Soul Food Stores

Many of the sons and daughters

Of these ethnic immigrants

Grew up in these cities

And got along fairly well

With their ethnic neighbors

Our big cities prospered

And our diversely rich

Heritages were maintained

Revered

And passed down

From generation to generation

Today our big cities perish

They die of government neglect

Crime runs rampant

Buildings lie in ruin

The homeless lie in gutters

And these wonderful

Ethnic city neighborhoods

And people

Have vanished

Today both people and corporations

Abandon their once proud heritages

And our big cities

And flock to ever-increasing

Plastic

Homogenized

‘Suburban Utopias’

Where they quickly decimate

Once great and green spaces

That once

Surrounded our great cities

And that once teemed

With diverse wildlife

They quickly construct

Massive housing subdivisions

And massive corporate complexes

That all look

Horrifically alike

In their new desire

To become

‘Homogenously Correct’

Today

Our suburban children

Are taught to

Dress the same

Speak the same

Act the same

Believe in the same things

Crave the same expensive toys

And disregard any concerns

They may have

For the plight of others

Not exactly like themselves

Or for the plight

Of our nonhuman neighbors

Families now gather

In homogenous suburban churches

Where they practice

The love of

A Homogenized God

And a hatred

And a bigotry

Toward anyone

On this planet

Who is not

Exactly like them

Today

Suburban families

Dine at homogenous

Corporate

Burger Kings

Instead of at

The now boarded up

Mom and Pop

Ethnic restaurants

They also flock to

Gigantic Corporate

Homogenized

Suburban

Amusement Parks

Grocery Chains

And Shopping Malls

Instead of to the once proud

Ethnic Carnivals

Ethnic Grocery

Hardware

And Clothing Stores

Of Yesteryear

Diversity Ethnicity

And even Nature

Have all sadly become

‘Dirty Words’

In our ever-increasing

Modern

Homogenous

Suburban Society

Even the trash

We now place at curbside

On our identical

Meticulously maintained

Chemically poisoned

Suburban lawns

Has become

Uniform

And Plastic

Our once noble and revered

Ethnic customs

Lifestyles

And religious beliefs

Are Dismissed

Forgotten

And shamefully tucked away

In some deep dark closet

In our homogenous

Suburban homes

In the desperate hope

That, we, too,

Can ‘Fit In’

And I for one

Weep

For our loss

And

I also weep

For the even greater loss

To come

For future generations

Of

Sanitized

Homogenized

De-sensitized

De-humanized

De-ancestoralized

Corporately Controlled

Suburban Residents

Who Will No Longer

Be Able To

Think for themselves

Remember their noble ancestry

Ever see a wild animal

Or even appreciate

How America

Was Truly Built