Smoke and...

It's a piece of cloth; it's a hunk of metal.

Flags and statues aren't America.

Let them go.

America is people—who came from everywhere,

and found a home.

America is hope—for people who lost everything,

and found compassion.

America is a place to belong, to be safe,

a place of rescue.

Who are we to deny  

that safety, that hope

to others, when we are separated

only by a generation's tenancy?

Who are we to insist that our

inalienable rights supersede theirs?

Who are we to lie and murder

and deny opportunity in defense

of our own petty fiefdoms, our own

pieces of cloth and hunks of metal?

Let them go.

There is evil to be found out there.

Let it go.

Shutting doors and building walls

won’t stop it.

Tearing down flags and moving statues

won’t stop it.

Evil

will sneak through windows,

will tunnel underground,

will tell scary stories in the dark

of flags and statues, and

will have a million faces.

God grant we may not see them

in our own mirrors.