From Greece To Rome (Part Two)
it took the civil rights movement,
the women's movement,
and the laborer's movement...
led by such as Cesar Chavez,
Martin Luther King, Malcolm X,
James Baldwin, Maya Angelou,
just to mention a few.
imprisonment, beatings, marches,
and many are dead now,
sacrificed to the cause.
JFK warned of secret societies,
wanted to pull out of Vietnam...
his brother Bobby stood up
for justice against the wheel...
both killed by the machine.
over 40,000 killed in Vietnam,
riots in the cities of America.
Nixon lied, America fell into stupor,
and those who believed
became part of the masses.
yet now, a turn for the worse!
/continued/
poem by Eric Cockrell
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They Killed Them!
my hero when i was a kid
was Crazy Horse.... they killed him!
my mother wanted me to be
a preacher, so i read about Jesus,
and His life... they killed Him!
when i was nine years old,
and in the fourth grade,
they killed JFK in Dallas....
just before he pulled us
out of the Vietnam lie......
by this time i had questions,
i knew something was wrong....
they went on to kill Martin Luther King,
Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X......
anybody that stood up for
what they believed.....
they killed them!
the fear of ignorant apathy,
the murderer that betrays humanity!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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I came at age in the '60s, and initially my hopes and dreams were invested in politics and the movements of the time - the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement. I worked on Bobby Kennedy's campaign for president as a teenager in California and the night he was killed.
quote by David Talbot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In college, I got interested in news because the world was coming apart. The civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the women's right movement. That focused my radio ambitions toward news.
quote by Bob Edwards
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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From Vietnam To America
In Houston, men killed their own children,
In Saigon, boys killed and robbed
Got life in prisons.
Right here, wives left their husbands...
And mourned their children's deaths,
Over there, girls sold their bodies
Every nights on streets.
From Vietnam,
Do my people have to pay that much,
For the stupid Communists and "United,"
To America,
Do my people have to pay that much,
From the sake of freedom and dollars,
From Vietnam to America,
Do my people have to go that far?
poem by Thanh Nguyen
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They Lied...
they lied to you...
lied to you about Vietnam.
lied about JFK,
about Bobby Kennedy,
about Martin Luther King.
they lied about trade agreements,
about global warming,
about oil spills,
about mining disasters,
about nuclear power.
they lied about 9/11,
about Iraq, and weapons
of mass destruction.
they lied about Afghanistan,
they're lying about Iran.
they lied about Wall Street,
about the national debt.
they lied yesterday,
and they're lying today.
when are we going to quit
believing in the lie?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy killed...
Sirhan acting, (alone?)
hypnotic mind control trance...
stood up to the Mafia!
told LBJ he knew the truth...
stood up to J Edgar Hoover,
and you couldnt do that...
race riots, war protests,
Vietnam machine rolled on...
how many dead?
who pulled the trigger?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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American Flag
i've had mixed feelings
about the American flag
ever since they lowered it
for President Kennedy...
it took a beating during
the civil rights movement.
and then there was Vietnam,
all the atrocities, the lies,
the wasted deaths...
the marches, the protests,
the Kent State killings...
and the flag was burned
in anger, and i understood
the anger
and now the corporate takeover,
the loss of human rights,
the loss of dignity, and hope
how many deaths does it take?
JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King
forty thousand plus in Vietnam
how many in the lying oil wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan?
how many homeless and jobless
does it take?
how many migrant workers treated
like animals?
how many old people have to lose
the benefits they've worked for?
and i think back to my old hero,
Thomas Jefferson what would he say?
maybe something like this:
'the real American flag isnt made of cloth,
it's drawn on the backs of the American workers.
male and female of all races and religions,
the people that built this country
the heart blood of this country.
when you put these people down
with your greed, your lies, your apathy
then you lower the flag.
and it can never be raised again
till all Americans walk heads up together
with hope till all have an equal opportunity
to live and be in freedom
until such day you have no flag! '
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Woman?
Me thinks much ink
has been spilt
over the poem;
‘Phenomenal Woman’
by Maya Angelou.
Me thinks it is time
I stuck my oar in
had my say;
hopefully in a far
less controversial way.
So I ask all these supposedly
expert men who
read read read her poem;
then see red red red
who is Maya Angelou?
A Phenomenal Woman?
And to a man these reds do not know?
Do they also not know
that it is personal choice;
which poems poets writers we like?
All have differing tastes
all are entitled to their opinion!
Have they never heard
Maya Angelou recite one of her poems?
It brings a smile to my lips my eyes.
I receive Maya’s performance with pride?
It seems no one nobody does it better?
So again I ask do you know?
Who is Maya Angelou?
A Phenomenal Woman?
Wow what odds would you give
on Maya Angelou, a young
African-American girl
ever achieving?
Phenomenal success?
Maya Angelou had her baby
at age sixteen?
She left home at age sixteen
as a single mother?
This is a very hard road in which seeds
of success could never be sown?
At age three and a half
Maya’s parents divorced.
Her dad sent her to Stamps
Arkansas, to live with
her paternal grandmother.
Four years later, her dad
sent her to San Francisco,
to live with her mother.
Marguerite Annie Johnson
experienced legally enforced
racial discrimination.
As a way of life as a young girl
in the American South.
What odds now on ever achieving
phenomenal success?
What happened to Maya
at age seven eight;
God forbid I will not mention.
When Maya heard
her mother’s boyfriend;
had been killed by an uncle.
Maya felt “her words
had killed the man” and Maya;
fell into a world silent.
Maya “did not speak for five years”
until age thirteen;
reunited with her mother.
Did trauma cause mute Maya
“to go mute for five years? ”
Maya recalled, “I thought if I spoke,
my mouth would just issue out
something that would kill people,
randomly, so it was better not to talk.”
I shall not recite in detail
the story of Maya Angelou’s life.
Best you read it for yourself!
Therefore a brief synopsis;
age sixteen supporting herself her son
working as a waitress cook;
already given up talents for music,
dance, performance and poetry.
Then rebirth as phoenix a phenomenal life!
Time you look her Maya read all about it!
It reads like a suspense novel visual screenplay!
This is phenomenal women exceptional lady!
I shall never know Malcolm X; Dr. Martin Luther King!
So who is this phenomenal African-American women?
“Heralded as a great voice of contemporary literature”!
Maya actress, author, civil rights activist, director, educator,
magazine editor, playwright, poet, producer, singer, song writer...
“three Grammy Awards for her spoken word albums”
Maya Angelou has been awarded over forty honorary degrees!
Other honors include the Women in Film Crystal Award (1992)
Humanitarian Contribution Award (1997)
Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in (1998)
Among Writer's Digest's “Top 100 Best Writers of the 20th Century” (1999)
Presidential Medal of Arts (2000) , John Hope Franklin Award (2006) , Mother Teresa Award (2006) and the Lincoln Medal (2008) .
International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in (2008)
are but a few of Maya’s honours Maya’s many accolades.
Therefore in genuine sincere respect
I bow the head bend the knee.
And to these critic men these reds
I have but one thing to decree.
What God has seen fit to raise up
let no man attempt to tear down in stupidity.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society ... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
quote by Martin Luther King
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When it came to political power, blacks need not apply. Add to this steaming stew the growing tensions over the Vietnam War and the movement for civil rights, and you had plenty of elements to fire the imagination of a novice journalist.
quote by Andrea Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Southern Heroes
One day the South will recognize its real heroes,
Martin Luther King Jr wrote a letter to white men from jail,
Who would rather that the courts settle racial segregation,
Where white judges make sure that they don't prevail.
After years of always hearing the word 'wait',
Which almost always meant never instead,
The bomb that exploded a church filled with children,
All for not being what the white men considered 'purebred'.
One day, the South will have to see the real heroes,
Like the man fresh from war when he took a bus to go home
Corporal Roman Duckworth Jr went to see his sick wife,
Killed because they thought he was a freedom rider who didn’t drone.
A full measure of truth and justice,
Is what they wanted to figure out
So many heroes like Dahmer killed,
Who gave a job to any colour without any doubt.
And what about Mrs Viola Liuzzo?
The amazing woman who was transporting
Those who needed a ride between marches,
Shot for being someone supporting.
Both sides had many supporters
But if the Klan was so good and so great,
And all the blacks wanted was to vote,
Why did they feel the need to retaliate?
They killed innocent kids,
Destroyed families aplenty,
They chose to make examples
Of many more then twenty.
But what good is a group,
Who only live to make the world 'pure',
What's the point of having someone
Who explains how to kill in a brochure.
Would you listen to the men
Who shot Reverend George Lee,
The man who convinced people to vote,
The man whose face became debris.
So why, why did they listen?
To the crazy power hungry Klan,
Turning their backs on the cries
Voiced by blacks when hurt by the white man.
Will one day the South learn of the true heroes?
One day, will they respect and honour the truth?
Will there be justice and peace for the restless souls
Plenty of whom were killed in the bloom of youth.
The true heroes are not the ones still standing,
But the ones who died for their beliefs,
The ones who stood tall like the hat of the KKK,
And didn’t back down from the life-taking sneak thieves.
The leader of the bunch was quite a man of speech,
Dr Martin Luther King Jr had a dream,
With his powerful voice he shared that dream
Let freedom ring, let them scream!
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
A/N: This was for my Writer's Craft final project. I did it on the Civil Rights Movement, against the KKK. Now, it was supposed to be a ballad, but I wanted more of a truthful thing, so I changed it from your typical ballad, and now it's sort of a free verse ballad.
Please review or message me, I'd love to know what you think about this.
Thanks,
Dani
poem by Danielle Schneider
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The List!
i came to age
in the land of Nixon,
and J Edgar Hoover....
when if you even breathed
the truth you made the lists,
the lists that no one saw!
from the America of LBJ,
the slaughter of the Kennedys',
and Martin Luther King....
and open war on the students
at Kent State who dared to stand....
against an unholy war....
civil rights, flag burnings,
draft card burnings....
women's rights, and change....
that we didnt finish....
now our own children stand
up in protest against a way
of life that isnt living....
and again the police
and the riot squads....
will there be lists this time?
unholy.....unholy........unholy
wars.. .....lifestyles.....'justice'!
put me on the list!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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As a civil rights leader, Mrs. King's vision of racial peace and nonviolent social change was a fortifying staple in advancing the civil rights movement.
quote by James T. Walsh
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Wars of Kenny Marchant and George W. Bush
Hiding during the Vietnam War,
You are now both supporters of Iraq gore!
Perfectly content,
Others' lives to be spent!
Course America now must stay,
Real American values you both betray!
Into another hopeless morass,
Totally ignoring your own obscure Vietnam pasts!
Expect history not to be kind,
Sidesteppeing Vietnam service to later have America maligned!
poem by Hubert Wilson
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Ghost Of JFK
the ghost of JFK
walked through my dreams....
and i could see and feel
the heartbeat of America
before the disease took us....
the voice of freedom and moral
conviction.... taking issues,
examining our own souls...
repenting of past prejudices,
searching for a way
for peace and freedom.....
but the shots rang out,
the hope of a generation murdered...
the Pentagon rolled, defense contracts,
smoke filled rooms....
J Edgar Hoover's lists...
the battle for civil rights;
and the young rebelled
against the lie in Vietnam....
against the lie, against the lie...
the search for freedom turned inward....
and the National Guard became the thugs
of the new regime.....
more people killed, more voices stilled....
Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King,
among them.....
that which we fought for now gone....
bought out by the corporate lie.....
and now the battle begins again...
now the voices, new voices,
spring up again....
and i stand amid the ghosts,
waiting on the shots to ring out!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The civil rights movement in the United States was about the same thing, about equality of treatment for all sections of the people, and that is precisely what our movement was about.
Exodus (Laswell Mix)
[Bob Marley]
Exodus: Movement of Jah people! Oh-oh-oh, yea-eah!
.......
Men and people will fight ya down (Tell me why!)
When ya see Jah light. (Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Let me tell you if you're not wrong; (Then, why?)
Everything is all right.
So we gonna walk - all right! - through de roads of creation:
We the generation (Tell me why!)
(Trod through great tribulation) trod through great tribulation.
Exodus, all right! Movement of Jah people!
Oh, yeah! O-oo, yeah! All right!
Exodus: Movement of Jah people! Oh, yeah!
Yeah-yeah-yeah, well!
Uh! Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied (with the life you're living)? Uh!
We know where we're going, uh!
We know where we're from.
We're leaving Babylon,
We're going to our Father land.
2, 3, 4: Exodus: movement of Jah people! Oh, yeah!
(Movement of Jah people!) Send us another brother Moses!
(Movement of Jah people!) From across the Red Sea!
(Movement of Jah people!) Send us another brother Moses!
(Movement of Jah people!) From across the Red Sea!
Movement of Jah people!
---
/Instrumental break/
---
Exodus, all right! Oo-oo-ooh! Oo-ooh!
Movement of Jah people! Oh, yeah!
Exodus!
Exodus! All right!
Exodus! Now, now, now, now!
Exodus!
Exodus! Oh, yea-ea-ea-ea-ea-ea-eah!
Exodus!
Exodus! All right!
Exodus! Uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!
Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied with the life you're living?
We know where we're going;
We know where we're from.
We're leaving Babylon, y'all!
We're going to our Father's land.
Exodus, all right! Movement of Jah people!
Exodus: movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!
Jah come to break downpression,
Rule equality,
Wipe away transgression,
Set the captives free.
Exodus, all right, all right!
Movement of Jah people! Oh, yeah!
Exodus: movement of Jah people! Oh, now, now, now, now!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)! Movement of Jah people!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
song performed by by Bob Marley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At the same time all this was happening, there was a folk song revival movement goingon, so the commercial music industry was actually changed by the Civil Rights Movement.
quote by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university.
quote by Russell Banks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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