Black and Dead, White and Alive

Haunted by the things you see
Things not to be unseen
Brutal and ugly mean and deadly
No matter where you’ve been.

Driving his car

Not going too far
Pulled over for a missing light
Bullets in his body that very night.

39 seconds was all it took

An innocent man’s life
Played by what book
Child’s screams into the night.

White cops

Out on patrol
Black driver friend child
The sad tale unfolds.

White cops

Out on patrol
White driver friend and child
A different tale would be told.

The words the words the words

The blast the blast the blasts
Blood is all around
The child screams
The mother wails
These lives won’t last.
 
Living while black
Playing while black
Driving while black
Farming while black
Pulled over while black
Someone is scared of the black the black man.

They all mean the same

That one thing is for sure
Black lives don’t matter
You can see it in the book.

Their mamas weep

Their friends rage
Black lives don’t matter
Who will start turning the page.

Whiteness reigns

In all of its shapes and spaces
How can I be hopeful
When I look into their faces.

Jury has spoken

Police versus the man
When the man is black
Just part of the plan.

Where is hope

Is it lying in the grass
When will it arrive
Will it ever come to pass.

Our babies what will they see

Years down the road
People treated right
Truth grace love carryin’ a righteous load.

 

Moses Pharoah Here and Now

Delivered ole Moses
That bush was burnin’
He had a lot of doubt
But his soul was yearnin’.

The Promised Land

Was way down the road
He had his many doubts
His gifts a heavy  load.

Aaron was a mess

He was the older brother
And God used him
Like He did no other.

Those plagues were over the top

Why couldn’t Pharaoh see
He wasn’t gonna win that war
Despite Moses’ plea.

God hardened pharoah’s heart

That was part of the plan
We read in the good book
Still not sure I understand.
 
Those people followed Moses
Through the path with the water walls
But then they grumbled and murmured
Can’t you just hear those calls.
 
People are so fickle
When God they could trust
The human condition is there
Turn to God they must.

Who’re we like

Moses, Aaron or the people
When discomfort comes around
Let’s blame it on the leader.

We were enslavers

And now that we’re all free
Let’s trust in God’s leading
To take us farther’n we can see.

We’re inspired by Moses

God’s deliverance the plan
When we ponder all of the madness
Here upon the land.

Jim Crow lives in our hearts

That’s really plain to see
Our plans written on the land
Wicked plans so grievously.

Those people were shackled

Their bodies but not their minds
Let’s work for a better tomorrow
Leaving Jim Crow behind.

Which is worse

That land or this
Why you want to compare
They are both too amiss.

Egypt in the day

Jim Crow written down
Though the laws are changed
They lurk and still abound.

It’s easier to change the laws

Than to change people’s hearts
But call it what we must
From day light till dark.

Pharoah held them in chains

And here we call it lynchin’
We steal their land, their livin'
We rob their inner vision.

Deliver us, O Lord,

Like you used ole Moses
Before we’re more like Pharaoh
And start using again those nooses.

This is the land of free

The home of the brave
Soften our hearts
Toward us come and save.