By JOHN GONZALES
Los Alamos
The Bird Is the Word.
Life is a journey, and you cross the road, born in the USA, the story is told.
And as the metaphor applies, the story is told, from the time you are born, till the day that you die.
And the question is asked, and the journey is told, “why did the chicken cross the road?”
A person, a chicken, a journey, a road. A metaphor of just how one crosses that adventurous road.
If white, if black, a person is told, there are rules that apply, when you cross that road.
Racial disparity, prejudice, and equity? With these questions asked we are faced…. with unmistakable disparity…. just how does that chicken, cross the road?
If black – you’re under attack – there is a shoving at your back, pushed to the street at rush hour traffic – you’re told go and cross that road.
If white – there is a crosswalk. And the traffic is stopped, and flowerpots line the crosswalk and music is played. And green lights are halted as you make your way…. across that road.
And while two ducks in bondage are brought in a cage, to Ashley Pond…. up on the stage – they are told that they do not belong and are hurried away. There’s a pecking order…. and only our geese…. go away, we are given to fleece…. those birds are example and a clear metaphor…. of how we treat races…. with respect to crossing that road.
The bird in the road, the birds at the Pond…. Sensibilities offended and judgement is rendered…. that at some level there is a disparity…. Of how we treat people and birds, that is low – and there’s the disparity.
If the bird is a person, then the story is told, and the question is asked…. is it fair or it fowl?
Ducks in cages or chickens in roads…. The racial disparity, a person a fowl.
Marginalization and the realization, that the bird, the bird, bird, bird, that the bird is the word.
Let the chicken cross the road…. allow the ducks to live in the fold…. at the Pond.
A new story told, a break from the old…. In the mind is where one breaks the mold, and everyone is included within the fold.
Ducks and chickens and people, too…. Inclusions the remedy, without the disparity…. of racial inequity
And there is the rub…. Put your duck in the tub…. Help yourself and help your fellow chickens, too, and inside you will reckon…. that they, and you, and we are all the same. And crossing together, the game is not lost, but rather, together we all cross…. that road…. a winner-winner, chicken dinner.
Black or white or anywhere in between…. A thought to consider, as you eat your chicken dinner.
