O SAY CAN YOU PLEA BARGAIN

When Wallace obstructed the state schoolhouse doors

When sick southern sheriffs beat Blacks in the street

When Klansmen and Troopers waged unholy wars,

“We’re defending our heritage,” they’d numbly repeat.

Now fifty years later again they take aim,

Again it’s police who are doing the killin’.

No matter how many they injure and maim,

It isn’t their fault, Black Lives Matter’s the villain

Our history oozes with innocent blood,

Our people of color endured our assault.

Their culture, their dignity we dragged through the mud

The familiar refrain, “It wasn’t our fault.”

Those Native Americans don’t count for much,

A casino or two and we’ll call it all even.

Besides they attacked us, like Custer and such,

They deserved all our bullets, so let ‘em keep grievin’

Breonna, Stephon, don’t forget Botham Jean,

Minding their business, but left there to die.

Being Black was their crime, as police at the scene

Manufactured excuses to cover their lie.

The nerve of those Black folks demanding fair play,

They don’t know our history, our sordid defiance.

Denying our guilt, it’s the American Way,

The police know the drill, it’s not rocket science.

It’s Black vs. White and our deadly police,

As Trump fuels supremacists’ anger and fear.

Yet there will be no justice there will be no peace,

White America still stubborn, refuses to hear.

The sins of our fathers we can’t wash away,

The stain of our crimes will forever endure.

The unfinished fight ‘tween the Blue and the Gray,

Leaves gaping a wound that cries out for a cure.

An eye for an eye warns the prescient Good Book,

While the heirs of White privilege cheer ruthless attacks

The freedom, the property, the lives that they took,

Mean nothing today, insignificant acts.

When People of Color demanded their rights,

They all faced the Heat, the brutal returns.

But the hour is late, and we’re weary of fights,

Either join hands together or America burns.

The reckoning day simply can’t be prevented,

Like the mightiest river it will run its course.

Law enforcement-led violence nor President demented,

Can intimidate Truth, irresistible force.

The power of populist pap leaves a hollow,

Where the best of humanity flowers and thrives.

Where mercy, compassion and charity follow,

All races are free to live meaningful lives.

It’s long past the time for America’s trial,

For the legions of people we sought to deprave.

A release from the burden of history so vile,

A reborn America, at last, home of the brave.

A loud mea culpa, a truthful accounting,

For crimes perpetrated too numerous to name,

Will announce the atonement, a signal amounting

To owning the guilt, accepting the blame.