Reflections In Truth and In Reconciliation
When ‘the civilization’ imposed itself on yours, the othered
Your language became undesirable ‘vernacular’ to be criminalized
Your world views and social systems, primitive
Your cuisine, smelly and objectionable
Your skin colour, a burden
Your names, gibberish
Your status, on the negative of the binaries
You’re coloured, black or other but not white
You’re sub-human, not human
You’re bad and not good
You’re a burden requiring the benevolence of others for salvation
You’re a mistake in creation to be managed by the benevolent
You’re supposed to be grateful not ungrateful in residential schools of civilization
In truth, the fundamentals are wrong, have always been
‘The civilization’ needed to meet other civilizations
In respect, not imposition
In equality and humility, not in arrogance
In humble exchange of mutual ignorance for the pursuit of truth
In appreciation of one another’s strengths and values
In optimization of robust benefits of pluralism
In constant self-reflection
In full consciousness of harms done, and harms not to do
It took five centuries of damages done and truth suppressed
It’d take much more for reconciliation
It’d take ‘the civilization’ reconcile to being ‘a civilization’
It’d take civilizations co-existing, not ‘the civilization’ presiding
It’d take harnessing the best of the universe of common humanity
In Truth and In Reconciliation
©Oguamanam 2022 (out of the rules poetry)