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Apr 2018
21st century slavery: Shayn Powell

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything looks fine,
People striding in glee?

Look hard for it may
Be a mystery,
That we’re living through
21st century slavery.

We claim these are
The lands of the free.
It’s a fib, that’s not at
All what it seems.

Because if it were
the land of the free
than Martin Luther King may
never have had his dream.

There wouldn’t have
Been a march for
Freedom in 1963.
And Mr King wouldn’t
Have lost his life
For standing up in
What everyone
Should've believed.

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything looks fine,
People striding in glee?

Look hard for it may
Be a mystery,
That were living through
21st century slavery.

America, “land of the free”
Were fine we claim,
living in prosperity.
“Everyone’s equal”,
You’ve heard it too, How silly
Don’t you agree?

My best friend
Rolled his window up
when he saw a policeman.
It’s sad, But this is the
reality we live in.

“We’re equal” but we
Strip kids from their dreams
Because they were brought here
Against their will illegally.

Have some leniency,
Then again you’re
changing their scenery.  
How can you do that
So easily?

And what’s this ****
we learned in history?
Jim Crow laws?
Thank god those are gone.
Or so we thought

You’re not sneaky America,
Mass incarceration is
Nothing but a plot
For a group of minorities
To be 2nd class citizens
To us all.

That’s evil that should leave
everyone appalled.

It’s time for a call
For action.
All this arrogance
Has left us distracted
From what our nation
claims to practice.
Because

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything’s NOT fine,
People AREN'T striding in glee.

Really look for it’s
Not hard to see
That were living through
21st century slavery.

Yours truly,

That worried white kid
Who lives in a society
That’s unruly.
Witnessed a buddy of mine roll his window up at a stoplight when he saw a police officer at the same stoplight and I wrote this up shortly after.
Shayn Powell
Written by
Shayn Powell  19/M/Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
(19/M/Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)   
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