i always felt
there was something wrong
even though my teachers
said it was alright
i always felt
there was really
no real control
checks and balances
preached to us in history class
somehow felt vague
distant
not clear
i always felt
how could it have been okay
to own slaves
but later i thought
when great black leaders
came forward to speak
about injustice
and newspapers
with angry young writers
that they could make a difference
once people heard
and read the truth
they would feel like i do
after all werent young black men
fighting in vietnam
right now
and so many years before
when they fought along side white men
in ww2
that things would change
when they got home
but as i read the news today
that feeling i had as a young man
seems to have been true
that in reality
who we thought we were
and said it loudly
proudly
what we are
who we really are
is not even close
to all that yelling
and righteous bellowing
because all those bright young men
will run away
when their income is in danger
or their ratings
or their tranquility
a million abuses
are accepted by so many god fearing
men and women
i understand better
how hitler was supported
then and now
which also clears up
why the pope ignored
or enjoyed
the death camps
why the allies did not bomb
the railroad tracks leading
to the black belching smoke stacks
of the death camps
they did not know
said the code breakers
and secret service
all this was wrong
i felt as a child
but somehow i also felt
we were a strong brave
great democracy
those comic books i read
i believed in
super man
boy commandos
captain america
dedicated to fight injustice
that was the real america
they taught me the truth
well it was to me then
RB
