Why?

Why?

Hollywood displays a man being the hero,
But where was mine while I was shivering in the dessert?

They kept me vulnerable with other girls
who barely spoke English,
but our tears of both sadness and hope became our new language.

An eight year old girl born into slavery
her first smile when I braided her hair
to me, it was just braids, to her it was art.

Visions of abuse you can't escape,
but "experts" who know nothing about slavery says the healing will end it all.

Trauma has no time stamp,
you continue to heal as you age
it never ends,
but people wants to believe in happy endings

During a rescue people assume the a child reunited with family is the ultimate ending,
when very few were aware that it was the cause of it.

for those that's been connected with loved ones waiting for them,
but an orphan child? where do they belong?

When we demand harsher crime will it benefit the child who's being prosecuted as a prostitute?
Will that punishment erase the trauma when the perp has their defense who assist in getting them aquitted?

How is registry sex offender work if you'll prosecute an 18 year old boy for young love of a 16 year old girl, but a 35 year old man gets justice for paid rape of a child?

Why do we ask ridiculuous questions of "Why didn't she just run away?" when the question should be why did you turn me away when I was only in neglige and heels but bruises and blood covered my skin yet you looked away.

And last, How do you abolish something that's already illegal and when it happened how did slavery resurface?

(c) Chong Kim, 2011

Reviews

[Stella]

This poem is amazing. Thank you so much for writing Chong.