When We're Harmed

Yes, we understand your umbrage when

being likened not to a prelate a primate

of the church but one of the animal kingdom

and we feel your anguish and always have

for our experience has been similar other

than a primate for we have been labelled

the lowest of the canine curs by those who

despise the legend that claims to identify

our qualities as such disowned by the

righteous rigorously creating divisions

within the race of humankind. Your rage

is ours too, your humiliation as well. And

your demands reflect our own magnified

exponentially for there are infinitely more

of you than there is of us. Slavery was your

condition abetted by your own seeking

profit and caring little for your welfare, a

tribal distance of inbred hostility. Ours a

different fate, diminished through organized

lethality to destroy our presence. The world

once hung its head in shame, contrite. Now

your turn has come and you rise triumphant

in your accusations of inhumanity against

your oppressors. Surprise! You've taken

dead aim at those whose suffering eclipsed

your own over the ages to the present

targeting the venom of blame at the very

group supporting your thrust for overdue

civil rights. In so doing you have armed

yourself with the very slings and arrows

you have long endured, turning against an

ally, proving yourself no better and perhaps

worse than your erstwhile tormentors, for

when you set aside conscience and snarl

and do us harm your campaign for dignity

recognition of equality loses its fulcrum.