When all your life you’re taught to win
To give an inch is grave as sin
To choose to turn the other cheek
Is ridiculed and mocked as weak
Your very land’s identity
Is bound to grandiosity
No wonder hate pours into streets
Away at open-ness it eats
Until the simmer turns to boil
Any sense of truth is spoiled
The echoed thought: “they won’t ignore me!”
And out you go in blaze of glory
Like soldier that’s been sent to war
But what the hell you fighting for?
Who is your foe, your enemy?
Your anger blinds, so you can’t see
We’ve somehow lost the skill to cope
Seems easier to give up hope
And let that toxic poison run
Right through the barrel of a gun…
Our city streets, the corner store
Our very homes are safe no more
Our lives hang by a tattered tether
Yet key is banding strong together
Break down that arrogance at last
Let change that matters come to pass
Tear out the hate like it’s a cancer
For thoughts and prayers are not the answer!