He did not see his color
When he whistled at the lady,
But it boldly shone under
The white sun’s glare
Like blood drops on satin.
With one swift movement he was gone
And the evidence lay on his torn body
Like broken glass strewn across an alley.
His only crime was for his skin
And would not repent this unlawful sin,
Open casket screamed out in tears,
Look what they did to my boy!
Ignorant eyes fed
by hot southern meals
could not be moved,
for they chained him to the ghettos,
they snatched away his vote,
barricaded him from the schools,
brutally assaulted his hope.

Humanity refused to be enslaved
By Sam’s Freedom grave,
To bring about a peace—
A silence louder than their oppression.

Greensboro sits in
To stand up
To separate but equal,
Little Rock Nine marches through
Like mice in mine fields,
To Dixie on bus—
The fight was at its C.O.R.E

These simple acts for basic rights
Were met with catastrophic plight

Arrested and beaten,
Lou’s ballot never cast,
House bombed
Church gone,
Abernathy watched the flames.
Like vicious winds
Of howling caves,
Bombingham exploded in rage.
The dogs set loose
By officers’ hands,
Children at the hoses’ mercy,
Captured in black and white,
Bull Connor’s callous cruelty

Yet together they stood in unity,
Standing for more than black community,
But for the decency of brotherhood—
Mankind’s good,
A moral dilemma
“as old as the scriptures”
and clear as day

And how to break the chains
And rise from underneath
The White man’s feet?
Soul force and civil disobedience
The King did preach,
But to X and Stokely
The Dream
would not convene
under a softened fist.
Black Panthers
Black Power
Black Pride,
Strengthened his beaten spine
That had been denied
And forced him to hide
Behind his flesh
The true content of his character.

Behold change broke the chains,
Dignity, justice, reclaimed.
Light brought to the shadowed mind
Gave birth to a liberated time.
The sacrifices and memory’s past
Echo like ripples from the rain,
A meaningful cause to fight for
Is harder to maintain

They fought for equality,
For the brotherhood of you and me,
We fight for Facebook pageants
And a bigger SUV

The movement came
And now it’s gone,
Now who will carry its spirit on?