Editor’s note: This poem was read at Saturday’s vigil for Renee Nicole Good organized by Indivisible Nantucket and submitted as a letter to the editor
To the editor: My country tis’ of thee is no longer the home of the brave and the free, as blood, tears and death are upon us all now and have been for some time.
I stand in the sun 30 miles out to sea and wonder how all this came to be. Processing so many wrongs and so much hate, I look down at my feet and try to find my place in these United States.
Reading and re-reading the Declaration of Independence, it’s hard to comprehend the level of violence and so many sins which our forefathers fought for some 250 years ago and here we are again with a “king” on his throne and his followers running afoot.
In the meantime, in real time, children are going hungry, and an American woman, Renee Nicole Good, was shot in the head and lay dead in the light of day.
America is in a very Dark Night. None of these tactics seems right – kidnapping foreign leaders in the middle of the night, seizing oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea, slashing healthcare, education, and government aid for everything that seems right for my fellow Americans.
Do I stand here in the sun and stare at my feet and feel lucky that I live 30 miles out to sea and pretend none of this directly affects me?
“We the people” as our Constitution states, these are our fellow Americans, whether by birthright, green card, or crossed over a border. I stand for justice and not just for me.
The list is long and many of all the wrongs that can not be undone to make them right.
For a mother of three is now dead, remember she was shot in broad daylight in the face. Renee could not get away from I.C.E. that fatal day. She wasn’t trying to hurt or kill anyone – now she is dead – remember she was shot in the head trying to flee, trying to be brave and trying to be free.
Our country tis’ of thee, I pray we can reclaim our Statue of Liberty as she stands there with tears and blood on her face.
Please, dear God have mercy on these United States. I, we, stand for freedom and justice as our forefathers did and won.
Good shall prevail, but right now, right now, everything feels like hell.
Renee’s family will soon lay her body to rest and she will not have died in vain. Please never forget her name – Renee Nicole Good.
Gennifer Costanzo