by Nachisha Lightsey

Created on: December 02, 2009   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

Oh, America,

Oh land of freedom,

Oh land of glee,

Purple mountain majesties,

And all that jazz.

In New York, Chicago, and LA,

Artists run free,

On cobblestone highways of tree-lined capitalism and speed.

While progressives leap Hudson's Bay, Lake Michigan, and South Central LA,

Meeting at the feet of pedestrians' stigmatized ways.

All the while,

Equestrians lovers build tall towers for blue collars to race towards in the park.

Ions ago,

I yearned to free,

Dreaming in suburban means.

While politicians herd sheep,

Meeting once a week,

To discuss who is going against the grain.

Pinpointing scapegoats for shame,

Society creates,

But does not claim.

Oh America, Oh land of freedom, Oh land of glee,

I need your dream to come true.

Close to the heart like caramel caked,

And big momma blues right before she...

Sitting in the subway watching rats flee,

Between train tracks that parallel 80 % of brothas' views,

Crying tears of chicken scratch thinking about,

How I was snatched from my home,

Roamed oceans for years,

Culture ceased in motion,

Watching tribesmen reaching for the heavens,

Drowned.

Because the ship weighed too many pounds.

America, Oh land of freedom, Oh land of glee,

What has become of the promises you have made unto thee?

Over a hundred years ago my people were freed.

Eli Salassi, Wilma Rudolph, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Alvin Ailey, Ralph Ellison, Amira Barack, Nelson Mandela, Phyllis Wheatley, Paul Robeson, Senator John Waters, Leontyne Price, Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Jesse Owens, W.E.B.

Just a few of the names that will never be,

In books my children will be forced to read in your schools,

Television teaching baby girls to wear tighter velour sweat suits,

To show off new nigga news.

While young boys drool,

Standing in half-laced powder white athletic shoes,

Wasting their minds,

Defending with their lives,

Land owned by government subsidized Jews.

AMERICA, for once just tell me the truth!

My ancestors planted, nurtured, and cured the root,

Of this society,

For hundreds of years,

Blood, sweat, and tears,

Forming the almighty, America.

Tell me Black Americans deserve reparations,

But we can't afford it,

Tell me Amadou didn't deserve it,

Tell me the founding fathers',

Were criminal conspirators, lairs, and thieves,

Stop shoving down my throat,

What you want me to believe,

You can't control this generation of all American me.

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