the face of a man
Photo credit: Paul Jeffers
DEAR MR MAASARWE, Your face is the face of a broken man
A man laying his daughter to rest Who placed his daughter into the arms of a country he believed would take care of her better than he could You believed it would provide her with a home, with opportunity and the hope of a better future “We thought Australia was safe.” Instead, your daughter was placed in the arms of a killer This killer is protected, defended by many people It targets people of all appearances, all nationalities and all genders It lies in the denial of the words “not all men” and the narcissism of the Western World Because no matter how progressive we think we are, every single Australian is still racist, sexist and ignorant to some degree The killer is us We murdered this girl Because even though we stood and screamed into the world our pleas for mercy For acceptance For equality We failed you Not enough people heard And not enough people changed Dear Mr Maasarwe, As an Australian, I am sorry We let you down And sadly, you will not be the last father to mourn We could have done more Instead of being offended and writing angry Facebook comments about an ad on television using its platform to protect girls like Aiia, we could have been listening We could have been changing and adapting and teaching our children the power of respect This fight is no longer about gaining equality between men and women
But instead is a fight for survival Mr Maasarwe, I am so deeply sorry We didn’t do enough We could have done more We can do more Every man in my community and my country, I am pleading with you to listen
We are not blaming you; we are begging for your help Because without you on our side we will lose this fight yet again Dear Mr Maasarwe, We did not know your daughter’s name until today She is the latest story on our front pages And she will not be the last I am sorry Please forgive us
Comentários