My Country Tis of Thee, Sweet land of liberty- Or so we sing.
Land where my fathers died- But my forefathers died in a battle Trying to keep their slaves; My fathers killed your fathers For trying to run away; My fathers **** your fathers Cause it's late at night, and He's reaching for his gun-no, wait, His ID?
Land of the pilgrim's pride- But so often we leave out of history How if it weren't for a Native American, The pilgrims would've died.
From every mountainside- Like Stone Mountain in Georgia, Where Rebel Generals are memorialized, Where the **** was revived- God, help me, I can't hear freedom's ring; I can only hear white-washed history.
From every mountainside- But these days, the mountain is in my chest, And liberty's ring sounds a lot different, And a lot of folks don't like it.
Let freedom ring- And I want to fight for freedom for all- #BlackLivesMatter- I want to help- HANDS UP, DON'T SHOOT! But- I Can't Breathe.
Let freedom ring!- But peaceful protests turn into Bloodbaths as those who have sworn To serve and protect are sniped down.
Let freedom ring!- I try to educate myself On the side of history not taught- I've always felt that Nat Turner was the bad guy, But these days I'm questioning it. I read "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the *****" by Frederick Douglass And I read "Bury Me in a Free Land" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and I read "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and I read "Letters from Birmingham Jail", "The Mountaintop Speech", and "I Have a Dream" by Dr. King.
When I was younger, I'd research Dr. King & his colleagues For fun. I'd wonder, "If I lived in the Civil Rights era, What would I have done?"
But when I turned seventeen, I realized, "I live in a Civil Rights era; What am I going to do?