Mississippi Burning

 

I grew up in a small town
in the South
my synagogue once met
in a building where
the KKK also gathered
and I wonder
what sets apart men
who wear white robes
to sow hate, fear
and those who wear white robes
to pray and repent

 

And here we are today
in the deep South
a synagogue reduced to ashes
its Torahs torched
my mind flashes back to Kristallnacht
and I wonder
what sets apart teens
who swing baseball bats
play team sports
with those who swing axes
and play with fire

 

This wasn’t
the synagogue’s first rodeo
rewind to 1967
when the KKK
bombed the shul
and I wonder
why KKK members
and executioners
and ICE agents
obscure their faces
obscure the truth

 

In the synagogue
hung a ner tamid
the eternal flame
it too went up in flames
and I wonder
who are we to blame
for inflammatory words
and incendiary actions
that smolder
inside a person
and eventually explode