AuthorsDen.com   Join | Login    
Where Authors and Readers come together!

SIGNED BOOKS    AUTHORS    BOOKS    SAMPLE CHAPTERS    AUDIOBOOKS    eBOOKS    STORIES    ARTICLES    POETRY    BLOGS    NEWS    VIDEOS    SUCCESS    TESTIMONIALS

Featured Authors:  Margaret Mullings, iBetty Jo Tucker, iKalikiano Kalei, iRichard Cederberg, iCheri Clifton, iBob mitchley #shock stories, iDarryl Jenkins, iMichael Gorton, iStephen Murray, iJohn Burns, i

  Home > Poetry > Poetry        Popular: Books, Stories, Articles, Poetry        Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z     

Harry E Gilleland

 Follow Me  

· Contact Me
· Books
· Poetry
· Blog
· Messages
· 262 Titles
· 493 Reviews
· Save to My Library
· Share with Friends!
·
Member Since: Before 2003

Harry E Gilleland, click here to update your pages on AuthorsDen!


Books by
Harry E Gilleland











See all Books
by Harry E Gilleland



Trump and White Racism in America
by Harry E Gilleland → (All Poetry by Harry E Gilleland)
Thursday, July 14, 2016    Rated "PG" by the Author.
Share   Print  Save   Follow   Share on Facebook

A controversial, thought-provoking political poem about Trump and racism.

Many people are surprised at seeing
the Republicans choose Trump to be their
candidate for President, his being
an outspoken racist beyond compare.

But this action comes after five decades
of their party’s pushing subtle racism.
Recall back when the Southern White male trades
parties from the Civil Rights laws-caused schism.

The Republican Party became the
last bastion for die-hard racist White men.
Jailing blacks, limiting voting were key
to Whites’ political power since then.

Some may claim the White race doesn’t act this way.
Past U.S. history gives evidence:
Whites performed genocide to the dismay
of the Native Peoples; with arrogance

Whites made and broke treaty after treaty,
killed the bison, denied their legal rights,
stole Native lands, ignored each entreaty
to make peace, forced Indians into fights.

Calling them savage and inferior
justified to Whites the right to slaughter
whole tribes to achieve their ulterior
motive of free land to the White squatter.

All the while these Whites went to church and prayed
so piously and unashamed. They were
blinded to the truth by racism. Hearts made
hard, the Natives’ tears and pain did not stir.

Likewise, land taken from Mexico was
sanctioned since Whites were deemed superior
and fulfilling our destiny because
Whites didn’t respect a race inferior.

White men in the South grew wealthy and fat
through the work of Black slaves for centuries.
Slaves could be raped, beaten, murdered, and spat
on. Whites caused untold pain and injuries.

The legal basis for slavery rested
on the belief that Blacks were less human
than the White race. This idea infested
the thinking of Whites lacking acumen.

Such a belief let Whites still consider
themselves devout Christians and unsullied
by a heinous action they deliver
while quoting scripture to those they bullied.

The Civil War was fought for slavery.
After Black slaves were “freed,” Southern White men
kept Blacks “in their place” with unsavory
“Jim Crow Laws”; the KKK started back then.

Until the mid-1960s the Blacks
faced discrimination in their housing,
education, health care, travel, jobs … facts
easy to confirm through on-line browsing.

Democratic passage of Civil Rights
laws made Republicans of many Whites.
Racism went underground, yet still invites
racial hatred to soar to olden heights.

In the U.S. today many Whites think
they are superior to other races,
yet call themselves Christ-like without a blink.
Such strange, faulty logic racism embraces.

Whites’ racism is ingrained in the fabric
of U.S. life. It awaits a trigger
to elicit it with results tragic.
Trump clearly sounded its call with vigor.



(Poetic Format: abab end-rhymes, 10-syllable lines)

Gilleland Poetry and Prose

Want to review or comment on this poem?


Need a FREE Reader Membership?


 Reviews of "Trump and White Racism in America"
Reviewed by Jansen Estrup
Reviewed on July 21, 2016
There is only one race, called homo sapiens with some vanity. Racism can exist only where and when systems of government and society are in place to enforce it. For example, Blacks may be prejudiced, but they cannot be racist because they have no means or method for enforcing their 'superior' status. Racism requires all four legs of a societal pyramid - wealth and/or status, authority/law, education/history, religion/mythology. Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians and other minorities have none of these and so even when the 'law' says they are equal, the weight of culture overwhelms that 'right' ... In the Americas and Europe, Australia, White skinned folk are racists by definition ...

Reviewed on July 19, 2016
Harry there is all kinds of racism in all countries. My Native American ancestors and my Irish ones were treated as badly as any people in this country have ever been treated and you don't see any of their descendents asking for reparation for the things that were done to us or perpetuating racial hate and division. All races can be assimilated into America without losing their individuality. What we all need to lose are the suppositions, attitudes and the us and them mentality. If we don't all learn to accept and respect each other this country is doomed. It would behoove us all to make healing statements that draw all our people together, not the kind of discriminatory "Poetry" you post here that pits races against each other. Yes there are White racists in America, there are also Black ones, we should have come further by now and you should have come further in respect for all races.

Reviewed by Jon Willey
Reviewed on July 18, 2016
No facts, all emoting Harry, bone up on your American history before setting off on a diatribe laced with innuendo and factually challenged statements. It is your right to do so and I will fight to ensure you continue to have it, even if almost nothing you stated is based on fact.

Reviewed by John Domino
Reviewed on July 16, 2016
Nice poem for HEll-HER-Rey lovers.
No FACTUAL BACKBONE here.
Ignorance is simply that.
Stupid IS as STUPID DOES!
Amen my friend....

Reviewed by Michael Schafer
Reviewed on July 15, 2016
Excellent write. The white man has made God in his own image.

Michael D.

Reviewed by Ronald Hull
Reviewed on July 15, 2016
Why do we have "white hats" as good guys and "black hats," as bad guys. Consider black magic bad and anything bad be the "dark," side. We are ingrained in our psyche to find darkness bad. This innate feeling stigmatized those of darker skin. Throughout the history you delineated so well in your poem, those of lighter skin, even among those with "one drop of Negro blood," had a better chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than others of their own race.

Those following Trump with his simple solutions to complex problems are acting on their instincts and not knowledge or critical thinking. They need a king or dictator to relieve them of their fear of the unknown. The reason they are so fervently Christian is because they need to have something to resolve their internal conflict and the promise of forgiveness and eternal life is too good not to pass up. That's why they're not passing up all the tidbits that Trump is throwing them like the hungry lot they are.

I don't agree with Ed. It doesn't take courage to stand up to bigotry. It just takes doing what Jesus would do. Most so-called, Christians, don't understand that.

Ron

Reviewed by E Phillips
Reviewed on July 14, 2016
One man with courage makes a majority.
Two or more make an army. Brilliant write!


Popular Poetry (Poetry)
  1.  Catching Happiness...
  2.  Finding Trust Again
  3.  Nightsky
  4.  Reality of Another Kind
  5.  Spindrift
  6.  Kindness
  7.  Our Restless Minds
  8.  Luxury of Solitude
  9.  In The Still of The Night
  10.  Dream Just a Dream
  11.  Life's Enormous Green Chest
  12.  Sediment Within the Soul
  13.  Roadkill Memoriam
  14.  Hunting for Truth
  15.  Whisper Pens
  16.  In Praise of Anonymity
  17.  I Have Spent My Entire Life
  18.  Shaved Reflections
  19.  Feeling Lonely
  20.  Serrated Smiles
Free Book Review Program
Select a book to read and review today!

Still Living on my Feet by Tichaona Chinyelu

Still Living on my Feet is the follow up to Tichaona Chinyelu’s first book, In the Whirlwind, which was rooted in a sense of hard-hitting revolutionary black love. However, in this sophomore effort, Tichaona brings the revolutionary essence from deep  
Member BookAds

A Stir of Echoes by Regis Auffray

This is my third book of poetry consisting of over 300 poems that offer a glimpse into my soul.  
Member BookAds