Make America Care.

I haven't felt this close
to an anxiety attack in months;
getting behind the wheel is
not desirable when every
other road is blocked and
red lights don't stop
cult-like followers.

It's comical how he's bringing
publicity to our city
when all we want is peace.
We've been called hysterical,
overdramatic and radicals
for simply caring too much.

I don't feel safe,
but I am protected compared
to those around me,
living in a red state
where you're targeted
if you so much as criticize
your country on any platform.

I feel sick with grief
for my immigrant friends and
their families who are deemed
criminals and dismissed despite
their hardships,
for my trans friends who are
constantly invalidated
and told they have mental issues,
for my friends of color
who can't seek justice living in
one of five states without a hate
crime law.

How a column in the Journal Gazette
called my friends and I foolish for
wanting to make changes
when all we want is accountability.
Punish those who harm others
instead of protecting the lives of
your fellow officers.

How those I know were ostracized
a town over for being lesbian and
Black, and they fear raising their
sons in a place where racists breed.
The power should be in the people yet
we give all our trust to fallible positions.
We have every right to be heard
when the law no longer protects,
when it buries those we love
alive.

Sirens sound and people shout.
Police dictate every corner of every
street.

The president is in town...