Message from Rick Ulfik, Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net

It is an honor and an inspiration for We, The World to collaborate with Kosmos Journal for 11 Days of Global Unity this year! I was deeply moved by all the submissions that Kosmos collected based on one or more of our 11 Global Unity Themes.

By F.I. Goldhaber

Chains of oppression run through my veins:
my ancestors, my grandparents, my
parents, me — all victims of bias,
pogroms, hate, bigotry, prejudice.

That dreadful inheritance made me
sympathetic to the suffering
of other Americans — People
of the First Nations, those descended
from Africans kidnapped and brought here
as slaves, other folk with dark skin who
speak unfamiliar languages,
those targeted because their gender
and orientation aren’t “normal”.

I walk among those who refuse to
subscribe to the polytheistic
worship of vengeful father, kind son,
holy ghost, and almighty dollar.

But even for those who’re excluded,
tribalism rules. Blacks beat me for
being Jewish, Queers ostracize me
because I am a bisexual.
Jews massacre Palestinians
forgetting the Holocaust’s lessons.
Buddhists in Burma slaughter stateless
Rohingya. Sunni and Shia brawl.

Although combined we outnumber our
oppressors, as long as we allow
them to divide and conquer we will
never succeed in breaking our chains.

About the Poet

F.I. Goldhaber’s words capture people, places, and events with a photographer’s eye and a poet’s soul. As a reporter, editor, business writer, and marketing communications consultant, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. More than 100 of their poems appear in fifty plus publications. http://goldhaber.net