I wrote this poem after listening to President Trump provide the unusual advice of using disinfectants and UV light to kill the coronavirus. There was also a rumor that he told Americans to wash their hands with boiling water. I took the idea of pandemic dreams and married it the Dream Speech that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave during the March on Washington in 1963 for civil rights in America. Dr. King’s speech is a direct repudiation of the type of racism and hate that led to Trump’s presidential election. If not for racism, Trump would not have been elected, and the US wouldn’t be suffering under mismanagement and corruption in this time of crisis. In this poem I also argue that racism and American ideals are mutually exclusive. The United States began with slavery and genocide. It’s 2020, indigenous communities are crowdsourcing for pandemic funds and a black man has just been lynched. Racism pervades every aspect of America. Therefore, while the ‘idea’ of America does indeed exist – in songs and movies and slogans – in reality perhaps it never has. Nevertheless, the Black Lives Matter movement has led to an awakening and a chance to make real systemic change. Pushback and reprisals have been ongoing and violent, but where there is positive change there is hope.”
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