People who were born into slavery
Were still alive when I was born
Not so very long ago
Not so far removed from current events.
Native Americans with treaty rights to their land
Belonging to them by right in the first place
Stolen even more recently
Forced onto reservations to live in poverty.
Abolition remains unfinished business
Reparations yet another broken promise
Slavery reconstructed through imprisonment
Democracy deconstructed through disenfranchisement.
The way things are today has not changed really
The systemic racism behind the professed ideals
The ongoing history of genocide and betrayal
White man speaks with forked tongue.
Japanese immigrants sent to concentration camps
Yesterday's news overtaken by the latest outrage
Latinx immigrant children separated from their parents
Placed in cages like dangerous animals.
On the Fourth of July I do not celebrate
Living in a place where freedom does not ring
Where people of color live in fear
There can be no truth and reconciliation possible.
