Description of "Artifact 1: a Poem about Justice"

Artifact 1:  a Poem about Justice

This past January, I wrote the poem, which you see here in my Senior Graduation blog called “Equality in America” for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Art and Poetry Competition which takes place in Ithaca and Tompkins County during late January in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday.  I wanted to draw attention to all the inequalities that still go on in America today.  This is why I named it “Equality in America” because I wanted to describe what I believe true equality in America would look like.  This poem touches on issues of social injustice ranging all the way from the most well known about issues of racism against African-Americans and Native American Indians, all the way to issues of ableism being directed against people with disabilities.  This poem absolutely aligns to the schoolwide outcome of “visionaries”.  It aligns to this school-wide outcome for two key reasons: first, it is a vision for the kind of society, or multiple societies that I would like to see arise out of this current civilization of the United States of America.  Second, the rhythm and power  with which my poem conveys my ideas for a better society make it all the more visionary.  Finally, another visionary aspect of this project is the fact that I decided to enter it into this Martin Luther King jr. day Competition and with that, share it and all my ideas in it with the rest of the people in Tompkins County who read the Ithaca Journal.      

Details of the Poem:

The poem begins with, “somebody once told me America is the land of Freedom, Justice, and Equality for all.”  This is because I feel that there is an illusion of the United States of America being a fully equal society to everyone--which it isn’t these days!  I then communicate this by saying “But I responded: not until…”.  Then, I go on to start listing the different issues.  I start with the issues of racism and oppression of African-American people, as well as the Native American Indians because I feel that these people have certainly faced the worst atrocities in United States History.  I feel that the rights of the First Peoples to come to this continent are most important, seeing as to how they were the ones here first; a society that treats its Indigenous People worse than any other group of people can never be a country of true equality! Ultimately though, beyond the issues facing African-Americans and Native American Indians which seemed most serious, I did not really have a specific order in mind; I just wanted to get all the issues of discriminatory injustice in this country addressed and recognized.  The rest of the story behind this poem should tell itself to one when reading it. This artifact relates to my future because I really want to fight for Social justice throughout my life, even if it's not what my core career is about.  For instance, if I'm working on the nuclear waste issue, predominantly from the lense of Science and Engineering, I will still be sure to get myself involved in standing up for those who are affected by the egregious crimes committed by the nuclear industry. Standing up for a better world is lifelong focus of mine!