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mosaics are not greyscale
our lives and losses are built by statistics, but
what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers
what if we started observing the colors, the details,
instead of in black and white?
what if we approached racism
with the making of mosaics,
instead of meeting quotas?
what if I told you that
people are dropping like fruit flies every second,
instead of updating a graph for you?
what if we pointed out that
immigrants carry a thousand monuments
on their backs
in the scorching sun
so that their kids can go to school,
instead of expecting documents
that give humans
their human rights,
from one human to another?
our lives and losses are built by statistics, but
what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers
what if we started observing the colors, the details,
instead of in black and white?
what if we approached racism
with the making of mosaics,
instead of meeting quotas?
what if I told you that
people are dropping like fruit flies every second,
instead of updating a graph for you?
what if we pointed out that
immigrants carry a thousand monuments
on their backs
in the scorching sun
so that their kids can go to school,
instead of expecting documents
that give humans
their human rights,
from one human to another?
I am not a data point,
I have more nuances than there are numbers in infinity
I am not a printout,
I am a medley of colors and hues no printer can produce
our lives and losses are built by statistics, but
what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers
what if we started observing the colors, the details
instead of in black and white
would the picture make sense to you then?
My inspiration for this piece rooted in my passion for civic engagement. Since the pandemic started, statistics have dominated the media with death counts, percentage of positive test results, and more--I've never liked this approach with any issue, not just Covid-19. You simply cannot capture grief and inequality with numbers.