Life in the Ghetto (poem)

Life in the Ghetto: Looking Back
By: Sonja Moore
(c) January 5, 2009

Life in the ghetto wasn’t always as it seemed
German propaganda footage hides their true scheme -
The total extermination of a segment of humanity
Using tactics and “special treatments” that reveal the insanity
Of man’s inhumanity to man
Some things are hard to tell
As it relates to the “final solution” regarding the religion of Israel
Political movements, a new government
Scapegoating leads to new legislation
The world’s stage is now ridden with fascist, totalitarian dictators
Whose sole aim is to rule the world & rid it of “undesirables”
But they even found ways to make real ghetto conditions deniable
The spread of typhus, lice infections and starvation
The demise of artisans, leaders and intellectuals of a great nation
Daily items now became contraband
Food and clothes we sold right along
With prayer shawls and armbands
“Essential worker” had some reprieve
Against the slaughter that was to come
But even in their case, sometimes,
Bribery or other sacrifices had to be done
Red Cross aid ended as Japanese planes
Attacked a Harbor half a world away
Forcing everyone, even children, to steal food everyday
Hunger breeds desperation
And makes you do things you normally wouldn’t
It drives you mad, it makes you crazy
It makes you say things you shouldn’t
Like, “Where is God? What is He doing?
Are we His ‘Chosen’ or the forgotten?
Why are we to suffer at the hands of evildoers
Who claim to follow God’s ‘Only Begotten’?”
Overcrowded ghetto dwellings filled with filth & disease
Call to mind the rat-infested bowels of ships carrying Africans overseas
The humiliation of haircutting of the rabbi
Makes me think of native children in missionary schools
Or the knot cutting inflicted upon ancient samurai
I can’t help but wonder if diseases were spread by government decree
As with the syphilis injections of Tuskegee
Or like the small-pox infested blankets that wrapped & killed Native babes
All are events that made it clear
That you couldn’t trust policies your government made
Careful calculations, detailed planning
Evidence destroyed and hidden from view
Was this example followed by African dictators, too?
Disregard for human life, no peaceful resting place for the dead
Human beings lined ghetto streets as Katrina’s victims did
Diaries & books tell the stories that others chose to deny
Gripping details and heartache that brings tears to your eyes
A Venetian concept, centuries old, adopted by the Nazi regime
Unfortunately, still a part of some government schemes