---
categories:
  - Poetry
date: 2016-05-25 00:00:00 +0000
tags:
  - Racism
  - History
  - Chattanooga
title: Post Civil War Chattanooga
layout: poetry
---

This post-civil-war-torn-town
Gave refuge
To the shackled and bound.

This town's river bubbled
With hope from beneath
To attract the outcast
And mask the town's deceit.

Traffic soon birthed
To industrial sound.

Its booming business
Broke the backs
Of the beaten down.

Jim Crow rose
To further ostracize
And whiteout the spots
Missed by redlines.

This town's river bubbled
With sewage from beneath.
Today's gentrified waters
Taste just as bittersweet.
