Baker, Shukri
Transcript
Open Confession by Shukri Abu Baker
November 24 marks my 14th anniversary in enforced disappearance.
I am, therefore, declaring November, Injustice Awareness Month: IAM.
Critical that I remained strewn between ceiling and floor. Contained, dismembered, disowned, ’public safety threats” like me get to regret, rethink, and I submit,
I am now in deep rethinking mode.
Malpractice was to enter a broken heart and mend it despair-proof. Indecent to wrap life-loving flesh around some bare brittle bones. Wicked to think every child deserved all limbs intact, head to toe.
My choices, my unforgivable crimes.
And I could have buried my face inside a soldier’s boot and become key to fair and lasting peace, but I did not.
I could have convinced myself hate was holier than love, but I did not.
I should have kept my door shut, turned the music thunder, and let the broken little souls knock and knock and knock until their broken little dreams had fallen apart; innocence on a frozen winter heart.
But I could not.
And I will not.
11-22-2022
