The status quo
Is comfortable.
No matter our woe,
We remain stable.

How would the world be 
If a person wasn’t afraid to speak their mind?
Perhaps an endless sea
Of improvements to mankind.

Lynching was not hidden.
With murder police were complicit.
Breaking the silence was forbidden
By the fears society did elicit.

The privileged comfort ourselves
By claiming the world is just,
Neglecting all of the pain that swells
In communities silenced by the dust

Of oppression.
This world’s default is stagnance.
If we make any concession
People will label us with madness.

“How could they?”
Perhaps future generations
Will say that about society today,
Considering the silence of the most powerful of nations.

In a way,
Little has changed.
The unfortunate are still shackled and torn away
From their loved ones and from life they are estranged.

There is always an audience,
Whether it happens in a prison or beneath a tree.
Yet our collective conscience
Chooses to flee instead of facing reality.

Our discomfort is inevitable
If we want to face our flaws. 
Yet discrimination is impenetrable
Without sacrificing our naivety for the cause.