I know what it is we saw On the streets of Baltimore Everything we should abhor Burning, looting and much more As our history has shown Once contentious seed are sown Violence that we can’t condone Begins when the first stone is thrown
Once we loose the savage beast And opportunists start to fleece Their local businesses decrease And there’s no justice or no peace Deprivation is the aftermath Once people choose a violent path For some it’s fun and so they laugh But they don’t know much about math
Whole communities disappear As rioters stand around and cheer Once the smoke has a chance to clear We find it’s worst than we had feared What began as an expression of pain Rapidly denigrated before it changed Which often happens when police are estranged From communities they police when there’s no exchange
Violence never is the answer Cos it can metastasize like a cancer It never was an agenda advancer Nor a valid argument enhancer So let’s not try to pretend That there can be any other end Nor a position that we can defend Can I surmise we comprehend?
(c) Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester. All rights reserved.
Streets of Baltimore was inspired by the unfortunate rioting that took place in the wake of the Freddie Gray funeral. Freddie Gray was an unarmed black man who mysteriously died in Baltimore police custody.