Equality... (In A Word)
equality...
in a word,
no more talk of
the 'land of the free'.
you founded this country
over the scattered bones
of 100,000,000 Native Americans.
built this country
on the backs of
African-American slaves,
and poor Scotch-Irish refugees,
who turned your earth,
and built your homes.
'give me your tired, your poor...'
more cheap labor?
to build your cities,
your railroads, work your steel.
how many faceless bodies buried
in your cold dark mines?
how many second class young men
sent off to war?
how many women paid less,
treated as less?
how many farmworker immigrants
paid too little,
treated like trash?
how many slum children
sent off to prison?
how many lives sold off
for bottom line profit?
disembodied jobless,
driven from their homes?
how many minimum wage slaves
praying for food stamps?
how many 'cant afford an education'
futures written in stone?
how many sparrows on the fence?
you want to honor those who've served?
all of these,
the people who have served you!
who have met your needs!
Memorial Day, an epitaph!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Related quotes
Capitalism Battles Freedom
when capitalism battles freedom,
you get what we've become...
profit begats slavery,
the many become enslaved.
founded on freedom?
we took this land from
the Native Americans,
took their way of life,
their rights, their dreams...
in the name of God?
of progress?
we brought over the slaves
from the African shores...
to work, to use, to abuse...
we took their lives, their way of life,
their hopes and dreams...
in the name of free enterprise?
of profit?
we treated our women like possessions,
second class citizens at best.
they were expected to be silent,
to obey, to bear our children,
to cook and wash...
they had to fight for years
to get the right to vote...
even longer for equal wages...
in the name of righteous judgement?
of divine directive?
and now, we the poor,
of all colors and creeds,
are corporate owned.
held under the thumb
of the elite, put down
and trampled on...
our way of life taken,
our hopes for the future dashed...
faceless numbers that stink of poverty!
in the name of wealth and power?
in the name of apathetic profit?
profit at all costs!
capitalism... or something else,
fair, equal, with hope and chance
and dreams...
the way of freedom,
when dignity overcomes profit!
when the human being is worth more
than the dollar and the deal!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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We Are Not Cattle!
they destroyed the Native Americans,
killed, raped, converted them
to slavery with a sword....
and built freedom on this premise...
on the backs of African-American slaves,
and immigrants that fled oppression....
now the actions of the past
are demanding their price!
and the battle again
will be fierce and harsh!
freedom isnt built on oppression!
they'll be no more herding,
we are not cattle!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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From Greece To Rome
we took the Greek ideal of democracy,
and built it on bloodied shores.
wearing the mask of white righteousness,
we destroyed all in our path,
and claimed the land for god and freedom.
we fueled it with African slaves,
bodies sold on the block.
we built the land of equality,
as long as you were male and white,
had money, or owned 'stolen' land!
finally, women took the right to vote,
but we urged them (god's will) ,
to stay home and bear children.
black people were emancipated
to 'colored only' restrooms,
and a seat at the back of the bus!
/to be continued/
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Change is needed
In 1776, people died for freedom, liberty, Justice
People say it’s what this country was built on
It’s all a lie this country was built on the very things
The pilgrims wished to leave behind
Built on the backs of people sold for trinkets
And as time went on people who looked more and
More like me my fore fathers built this country
Yours watched but that was long ago
So why do we fight only to destroy their work
Our home so why can’t we hold our siblings hand
Only for a few minutes a brief walk just little things
To instill equality, justice, and change
If tomorrow has come then let’s fix where out fore fathers
Went wrong let’s do it for us
poem by Ronald Speight
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Iron Fist
Standing in the road and it's rush hour
Wishing I was far from this scene
Standing in the road and I'm freezing
It's hard to breathe
This morning I was dreaming of angels
Covered in the warmth of their wings
This morning was a different lifetime I've come to believe
So now I'm answering a million questions
Racking up my legal fees
Everyone's assuming I'm guilty
So now I'm watching as my house is raided
Like I'm some sort of terrorist
I thought that they were democratic, not an iron fist
More like an iron fist
Sitting on my couch like a leper
Interrogated sociopath
One hand is resting on their holster the other their staff
In my life I've been trained to respect them
Bred only to protect and to serve
Now I know they are paid by the wealthy
The meek won't be heard
If I become what they had taught me that is wrong
I lose allegiance to the country that I'm born
The country that I am born
I always knew that they would find nothing
No weapons, just a mind of my own
This country was built only on treason
These homes for the slaves
Homes for the slaves
song performed by by Goldfinger
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fired My Rocket!
we 'discovered' this country
on the basis of murder and religion.
we built this country
on the backs of slaves.
we made this country prosperous
with the bodies of underpaid factory workers.
we spread democracy
with the sword of felony and greed.
we fed this country,
and foreclosed the farms of the farmers.
and you wonder
why we are where we are now!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Dictatorships Exclusive
dictatorships
pyramid exclusive privilege
restricted rights
restricted benefits
streamlined American debt
states are bankrupt?
good common citizens
ordinary noble Americans
pay debt in sold skins
George W Bush
robbed American poor
who had to pay taxes
exempted wealth all
his buddy mega rich mates
who as his supporters
fund contributors
were apex tax exempt
paid no tax at all?
for a haven period
of several years
Barak reinstated
mega rich prime privilege
Barak Hussein Obama stepped
up illegal foreign wars
lied publicly because never closed
Guantanamo Bay as promised
bought troops home as promised
costly invasion inflation wars
crank up American blood debt
costly drone buzz missiles hit
over a million American
homes lost homes homes
the poor the middle class
suffer while wall street fraud
top bankers who were guilty
of mismanagement were bailed
out with tax payer dollars
again the fleeced poor paid
for errors of banker policy
rich and when poor protest
will they be swiftly beaten
down if dare march protest?
Say No To Torture?
Say No To Gitmo?
Say No To Barack?
Say No To Foreign Wars?
Say yes to bring home troops?
Say yes to American factories?
Say yes to fair taxes our homes?
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Obligation Of Remembrance
Champions of freedom, each and every one;
We solemnly remember thee, for all the battles you have won,
With valor, honor, and wholly selfless dedication;
You served served God, and a country in need of your protection,
From those who sought our liberty's end;
Without regard for your own life, you stood to defend
The very precepts that make our country great!
When the call to arms came, you did not hesitate
To stand, and be counted, amongst a very select few;
Freedom is not free-its price was paid by men and women, like you!
On behalf of a grateful nation, with an obligation of remembrance,
Thank you for your sacrifice-I know this fails, as recompense,
Yet, it is all that I now possess, to bestow,
Upon so many brave souls, I had not, the honor, to know!
poem by Maurice Harris
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Down to the Ground
Pride goes before a fall
High lofty towers burn to the ground
Symbols of money, oppression
Wealth built on the backs of slaves
I am for the distribution of wealth
For all the nations rising
Lets see health care for all
Lets send all to school and college
I hate the death of the innocent
False religions shall also burn
The earth shall soon be on fire
Everything that should fall, will fall
Look at the angry flag worshippers
Idolaters who put nation above love
Ideologies of amassing power
Propaganda, your country is better
See the priests weep for Babylon
Religious robes hiding the State
Leading the blind into sectarianism
Preaching nationalism as Gods Word
National guards in poor countries
Trained to protect American interests
Love your country or leave it!
They stole it from the Native Americans
American capitalism must end
False ideals so high and mighty
Military power backing corporations
Tar and feather the rich who steal
The rich trample on the poor
They pollute the entire world
Lawyers to back up their greed
Laws bent to protect their wealth
In money we trust burns
poem by Joseph Narusiewicz
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Lotus land
I.
There are no more oxen
to tread through the dust,
not even those of A.G. Visser
or Jan F.E. Cilliers
because they have died long ago
or are eaten
by Afrikaners as steak
and there’s no wagon
to be drawn,
because every chariot has its own power
and its own beauty too.
II.
Fast the kilometres rush past
and marsh and meadow
are driven through before sunrise
and if you leave at dawn
you can reach the Cape before dusk
and we are already living in a languid country
where the sauce train
comes and get many people
while the others
still have to pay tax.
Some sit without education in offices
passing the hours on their chairs
while they do not know how to work
or to do a task
and are just waiting for their wage
or to talk on the phone
III.
The rich get richer
while white men
that can work and have university education,
are jobless
and women now try to do their thing.
The ignorant becomes bosses
that only knows how to cringe
and by black economic empowerment
and affirmative action
uneducated get big salaries
while the country slides backwards.
IV.
Wanderers even come from other countries
and just where they can
they squat.
At every traffic light people stand and beg
and do not know
how to work
and with coins and rands
that everybody give in pity
this evil is strengthened.
V.
Caning is gone out of the schools
and most children do not know
respect anymore
and do not know how to learn
or to honour their parents
and I wonder what have become of my people
and where our country is going
and if everything is rushing to the end?
[References: “Lotus-Land” by A.G. Visser and “Die Ossewa” by Jan F.E. Celliers.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Admiration... For Those Who Work!
i have a deep admiration
for the common working people
of the world...
having lived among them,
worked and sweated with them,
i sing their struggle!
farmers toiling day and night,
nurses pulling double shifts.
factory workers doing time and again,
carpenters and masons building.
black and white and all colors,
working their lives by faith.
and immigrants, often called illegal,
(though no human beings are illegal!) ...
who come here and work for whatever wage,
trying to build a dream for their families.
let us not forget women,
too often underpaid and treated as less...
truckdrivers, and those who work the docks,
steel workers, cooks, and trash collectors...
all leave me in awe...
there are many who cant work,
these should always be taken care of.
but the ones that could work if they would work,
who can work, and wont...
well... i have a problem there!
i was taught to work as a child...
taught respect, dignity, and honesty...
and so i believe, and so i live...
in admiration for those who work!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Workers Of America
Workers of America shout long and loud
As we work together hard and proud
We are the ones that built this great country of ours
From the strain on our backs and our blisters and scars
We were the ones to clear the fields and lay the tracks
We are the ones to build the cities and break our backs
And we are the ones to sweat and bleed and die
As we built this great country, which no one can deny
We work the factories, and the stores and the mills
We dig the ditches and collect the garbage to pay our bills
We are the ones to work in the snow and in the heat of the sun
If it wasn't for us the workers, no work would ever be done
It wasn't the politicians or the judges who built this great land
But it was the workers of America as destiny had planned
Also we are the ones to fight the fires and all the wars
When our elected officials send us away to foreign shores
And we are the ones to feed the deprived and the needy
While the rich man cares for no one, but himself and the greedy
Without us the workers this land or any land would certainly fall
As we are the one that mixes the mortar and builds the wall
We pay the taxes to keep America's heart beating
And we are the ones to keep America always competing
Workers of America look up, as GOD gives us a nod
And listen to the past, as our forefathers do applaud.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
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I saw soldiers
I saw soldiers
with eyes opened wide
who in fear, dutiful served their country.
They were only boys and moreover
unravelled from all humanity
and mechanical like an oiled machine.
Aged early, cold in heart and soul and besides
driven past madness and stripped from reason
to in fear, dutiful serve their country.
Without any glory or esteem
they assaulted the enemy challenging death
and I saw young brave soldiers.
Boys abandoning their own free will
and caught in a almost endless cycle
to in fear, dutiful serve their country
Boys who did not concede to the reasons for the war,
later sold out by politicians,
I saw as soldiers
who in fear, dutiful served their country.
poem by Gert Strydom
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So We Are Now Refugees
Little drops from heaven's ballister
Ceaslessly falls upon our land
Heaven weeps on us without remedy
Our land is excessively watered
Gutters are fed to yhe throats
Rivers rages above their banks
Furrows are submerged with ridges
Our farmlands suddenly vamoosed
Our homes are sacked by floods
From upper Benue to down Niger
Our homes laid postrate in floods
Old people cry for help
Mothers screamed for washed away children
Lives bodies float on water surface
Hues reign in our habitations
No more homes, no more land
Floods has eaten over our land
No more glitter in our birthplace
We are now refugees in our land
poem by Babatunde Aremu
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Whose Country Is This?
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of snakes;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of many waters;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of thieves! !
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of people;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of oil;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of earthquakes!
Whose country is this?
it is a land full of lovers;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of volcanoes!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of beautiful flowers;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of hansome men;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of beautiful women;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of roses;
Whose country is this?
it is a land ruled only by men;
Whose country is this?
It is a land without rainfall;
Whose country is this?
It is a land ruled by a woman;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of corruption!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of pirates! !
Whose country is this?
It is a land ruled by law;
Whose country is this?
It is a land controlled by rebels!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of ice;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of pregnant women;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of singers;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of troubles;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of war! !
Whose country is this?
It is a land with the biggest cemetery in the wolrd!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of desert;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of trees;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of pregnant teenagers!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of timber;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of hatred;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of love;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of care;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of peace;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of smokers!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of businesses;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of harlots;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of wise people;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of idiots!
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of gold;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of cocoa;
Whose country is this?
It is a alnd full of crabs;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of evil;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of rainfalls;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of ants;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of horses;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of pigs;
Whose country is this?
It is a land full of statues;
Whose country is this?
it is a land full of birds;
And so on, and so forth!
Because nature had made them so as we see them around us,
But the wise and fool live together on this earth.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Freedom Rant, Part Two... (For Greg And Terence)
socialism, existentialism,
the pages are revealed.
patriot lies, god dies,
unmarked graves in a field.
the addict weeps, cold hard streets,
poverty has a heavy hand.
discrimination, salvation,
leaving footprints where we stand.
single mothers, live for another,
food stamps and minimum wage.
desperate young men, without a friend,
commit acts of senseless rage.
the prisons turn, the money earned,
fills the bellies of greed.
children taught to kill, against their will,
to survive, to feed the need.
those who slept with goats, and came in boats,
to steal the land of the free.
buried the bones, beneath time and stone,
became written history.
now the sins of the past, come due at last,
the slaves rise against the lie.
feet cross the line, eyes read the signs,
for it's liberty or die!
the farms foreclosed, bankers pick their noses,
the factories shut down...
streets filled with ghosts, businesses closed,
nothing left but the sound.
of family trees, brought to their knees,
and babies born in empty rooms.
where roaches crawl, blood spattered walls,
black eyes, needles and spoons.
while Bibles scream, in human dreams,
of the gospel of flesh and bone.
suicides, mass genocides,
stones stacked upon stones.
hungry faces, leave human traces,
on words spoken without a voice.
beneath the gun, dare we stand or run,
we stand before our choice.
Fox News, for those who refuse,
to feel anything at all.
whose bloodless hands, sign time's demands,
on the dawning of the fall.
the guns of war, as ignorance roars,
but who falls victim to this day?
backs turned too long, hearts turned to stone,
is it too late to pray?
nay, i say! another way!
one chance to make a difference...
for it is this act, taking dignity back,
that is the cost of our forgiveness!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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List Of Things You Want
You want to be treated fairly.
You want to be treated right.
You want to be treated with respect.
And your dignity protected day and night.
What makes your needs any different than mine?
And why should I treat you more thoughtfully,
Than you have treated me?
And you taught me the many faces,
Of mental and physical abuse.
With declarations to make me feel,
Unqualified to be near a gutter.
And you want what?
From me?
To prove to you I can be humane?
I know I did not hear you say that?
And you called me a heathen too?
Heathens do not give the shirts off their backs.
You want to be treated fairly.
You want to be treated right.
You want to be treated with respect.
And your dignity protected day and night.
And...
May I add,
An all expense paid trip to Fantasy Island.
Hosted by the best psychiatrist available.
With a need to stay.
Put that on your list of things you want.
To have us both hope that happens.
And not soon enough.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Democracy
If a country’s majority of people are illiterate
Democracy will bear no sweet fruit
Whereas if a country’s most of the people are educated
Democracy will bring peace, harmony and prosperity.
Therefore governments ought to provide education to all citizens
In order to obtain good results of democracy
And if necessary they should go for free education
For the poor people irrespective of sex.
On the other hand education should be up to the mark
And moral education should also be provided
So that a corruption-free society can be established.
Thus democracy is able to set up a welfare state
With a minimum timeframe.
poem by Asif Andalib
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Human Chronicles (Part Two)
and here in the United States...
the flag of freedom desecrated.
betrayed by our own greed,
by the sins of 'I, Me, Mine'...
carrying the weight of the wars,
the patriotic lies,
the lives taken,
the peoples abused.
the karmic curse
of Native American blood,
the bodies of the slaves,
buried beneath the hanging tree.
the muffled cries of the immigrants
who did our farm work,
and were herded like cattle.
the ghosts of the common workers
pounding the unemployed streets.
too long, too long,
we've closed our eyes.
too long, too long,
we've turned the other way!
and now we've come to this!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Women Trafficking
Sold as cheap goods
abducted, aborted,
deceived, treated as slaves.
Like robots they move,
told what to eat and wear
how to react and sell.
Raped, maltreated,
they earn some pennies
with the greater share
for the wallets of their masters.
Women, women, women
from many corners in the globe
trafficked as cheap commodities,
a living witness
to our society of lust and greed.
poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen
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