Foot Soldiers

TW: blood, violent attacks, screams, etc

You can’t define America in one word

Because it is defined by a constant dichotomy:

A dream and a reality

Barbarity and benevolence

Gaudy idealism and a broken promise.

A deep, personal conflict between humanity and hypocrisy

A beast to some and a blessing to others.

Whoever she may be,

Her exceptionalism can only be found in the affirmation of her ideals

Through the struggle to make them real

The claim of liberty

Made by those who were denied it

It was the foot soldiers

The marchers

The freedom fighters

I think of March 7th, 1965

They called it Bloody Sunday

Edmund Pettus, a literal clash of ideals

One that shed blood

Women and children, on the ground