Its title: Little Changes
Ain't it a shame that anyone died
For a thing called 'freedom'
When freedom was a lie?
Old Abe wrote a paper
That conscience made him sign,
';All men are equal';
But it was a great big lie.
A hundred years later
On a white man's bus
A woman took a seat
Reserved just for us.
What Lincoln said
Had been 'qualified'
'Equal but Separate'
Had nullified
Those noble words
As a great big lie.
In World War Two
They fought and they died
For a thing called 'Freedom'
But it was nothin' but a lie.
Down in the south
The black man cried
Cause the nation didn't care
When 'his' children died.
';Open your mouth,
Get uppity with me,
And we'll hang by the neck
From a magnolia tree!';
And ain't it a shame
That anyone died
For a thing called 'Freedom'
When it was nothin' but a lie?
A dozen years later
The second war done
Baby boomer children
Could play and run
And the dead from the war
Were turnin' to dust
And our money all said,
';In God We Trust';
And ain't it a shame
Those poor boys died
For a thing called 'freedom'
When it was nothin' but a lie?
God created people
And they build the ladders
The social kind
Are all that matter
And Rosa took a seat
On the bottom rung
And in the South's mighty roar
More Blacks were hung!
Churches were bombed
And Black babies died
Cause Rosa looked a white man
Straight in the eye!
';All Black children, run and play
Study if you want,
But stay outta the way!
This is the South
And we are the Whites
And there's no such thing
As Civil Rights!';
';So mix it up, just not with us,
And take your seat in the back
Of the White Man's bus!';
Old Black men were pelted with rocks
As Freedom Marchers marched
Down city blocks
Then Martin, Malcom and Medgar, too
Were all shot dead before it was through.
And crosses were burned
In the middle of the night
And the whole South glowed
With a great orange light.
And ain't it a shame that anyone died
For a thing called 'freedom'
When it was nothin' but a lie?
And the superior North
Pretended to know
How the South could change
The status quo.
';Desegregate and educate!';
';All children are the same!';
';Caring about their color
Was a doggone shame!
Our children, all together
Should learn and laugh and play,
And when the school day's done
Go their separate way!
Our Negroes don't mind,
Why, they never cared before
That they can't live
In the house next door.
It's about property values
And other trends,
Why some of those people
Are our best friends!
Treat Negroes the way we do,
And they won't make a fuss.';
(Though our neighborhoods
Are like the White man's bus.)
Twenty years later
They said it's settling down
Baby boomer children
Havin' children of their own
Joining Daddy's clubs
Where some things never change
Getting in depending
On your last name.
That great gift of Liberty
Given those in the war
Didn't extend
To the Country Club's door.
';You Jewish folks,
You're just not our kind.';
(And your freedom in America
Is only in your mind.)
Same rule applied
(And isn't it a sin?)
If they didn't care for
The color of your skin.
And ain't it a shame
Those poor boys died
For a thing called 'freedom'
When freedom was a lie?
It's been fifty years
Since the second World War
And we are a little better
Then we were before.
Some even claim we're All free
No matter what color you happen to be.
But say what you think
Express your mind
And the morning after
You're liable to find
That someone came
Like a thief in the night
And there's a great cross burning
With a great orange light
And you'll hear the words
That someone said before
Echoing down decades
Of a vile corridor
';Open you mouth
Get uppity with me,
And we'll hang you by the neck
From a magnolia tree!';
Just take it as a warning
Cause you won't be hung
You've only been knocked
Off the ladder's bottom rung.
And ain't it a shame that anyone died
For a thing called 'freedom'
When freedom is a lie?
';Say what you think,
If it agrees with Me!
then all God's children
Will truly be free.';
Freedom of speech
Has been 'qualified'
And the ones that died
Duly nullified.
Ain't it a shame
They died for me
Beliving in a myth
Called 'Liberty'?
So I'll sit at the table
With the meek and the poor
The cast-outs, tax-collectors,
The lepers and the Lord.
Ain't it a shame He died for me?
But at least with Him,
I'm truly free.Would you read an old poem that came from an old rant?
EXCELLENT, Excellent, writing. The flow was perfect, the story told is told perfectly. This writing should be required reading in every school, and church, in the country. I love the ending. As a Christian, and true believer, your ending is very inspiring. Thank you for sharing this, Bobby's Girl, I truly enjoyed reading this. God bless you.Would you read an old poem that came from an old rant?
I really love this one Bobbys' Girl. It speaks volumes.
Sounds too much like an inaccurate history book.
Things happened, but not only in the south, the south simply had bigger press. Many Black people I knew personally went north to chicago, and detroit, looking for a better life. Most came back after a few months, saying it was worse up there. Things are changing, maybe not at the rate we would like to see, and maybe at a faster than others would like to see, but if you really want to see racism die fast, you put a white soldier and a black soldier together in a vietnamese jungle, fighting for their lives, when each must depend on the other to stay alive, and they come out of it closer than siblings, and the skin color doesn't matter. And to be truly free, we must die. Gives us something to look forward to.
Wow. That is long. 175 lines is a lot. There is a lot of good stuff in there, but it is very hard to read because of the huge number of short lines that are not complete thoughts in themselves.
The first thing I would do is combine lines into longer ones of 10 or so syllables, then try to fashion them into four line stanzas and see what is there.
I think you could get a strong poem out of this consolidation and some polishing.
very patriotic. Great ';epic'; poetry. Your version of History in a nutshell. I agree with Shan it needs separation with a suggestion of the refrain ';For a thing called 'Freedom' When it was nothin' but a lie?'; and its variations, as the last line of each stanza. Just a sugg. Meaty!
This is strong and in a voice that makes it strong. I would change little, just work on flow more. Reading aloud will give you those clues. Your voice is unique, some may not like, but it's a voice that makes people take notice. My compliments.
