“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”
~ Anatole Franceby Dr. J. Kerkula Foeday
MY WEEKLY POETIC REFLECTION
Issue 9, Sunday, June 14, 2026***************************
One flag flies over two countries here …
One where the poor man’s “alleged”
Is already a sentence,
And one where the well-connected man’s “alleged”
Becomes a news headline, a pause,
a polite suspension.Governments change.
Presidents come and go.
Yet the old question survives every inauguration:
Relentless toward whom?Millions move in packaged shipments.
The names remain hidden.
Small boys find their way
To Monrovia Central Prison
For a small zip-lock bag,
While bigger weight,
Carried by a network of bigger names,
Hides behind a due process
That somehow may never arrive.Different administrations.
One familiar script.
Different presidents.
Same story.The law has two doors:
One revolves,
The other locks.We marched against kush yesterday.
We blocked streets.
We cried for children,
And cried for zogos
Dying slowly in forgotten ghettos.Will we march just as loudly
For a case that goes silent
The moment a name sounds
Too close to power?
Too connected?
Too protected?Double standards are not the exception.
They are the operating system.
And systems do not correct themselves.
They are either challenged,
Or they endure.So Liberia,
When the next name is whispered,
When the next “person of interest”
Turns out to be
someone’s cousin,
Someone’s son,
Someone’s driver,
Someone’s advisor,
Will you ask the question aloud?
Or will you do
what we have done before:
Lower your eyes,
Swallow your outrage,
And look away?One flag.
Two laws.
One Republic.
Choose which one you will build.
About the Author
Dr. J. Kerkula Foeday is currently the president of the National Association of Social Workers of Liberia (NASOWL). He is also the current chairman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Liberia.