Cale-se*

by Leticia Priebe Rocha

In the song Cálice, infamously censored by the U.S. backed Brazilian military dictatorship, Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento express the need to launch an inhuman scream because it is the only way to be heard. 
 
This is, of course, roughly translated. Translated roughly, of course, like human beings across ocean and desert, landing where
 
searching for life becomes criminal alien
 
ravaging lives turns into removal proceedings
 
children in cages shift to minor detainees
 
concentration camps metamorphose to detention centers,
 
all blending together, blending with thousands of other translations that maintain this stolen land, blending into our daily lives, blending into your mind, ultimately begging a single question:
 
Are 11 million screams enough? 
 
*Shut up