Home of the Slaves

Land of the free Home of the slaves The blood, sweat and tears of my ancestors resonate Amongst the soil where they were slain I’m hearing their struggle I’m feeling their pain I can’t imagine being forced to part from my family All for massa’s gain So I pay homage to those who promoted change People like every slave who tried to escape Nat Turner, Ms Carlotta, Harriet Tubman And the safe houses who were in accord And peg leg Joe with his song Follow the drinking gourd. People like, the disregarded - those thrown overboard And who was dismissed and defamed The ones who were stripped of their soul, their pride, their names The list could go on The full will never be told So I pay homage to others who were bold Like John Brown, The Freedom Riders, Sojourner Truth Ida B Wells, Phyllis Wheatley, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Charles Drew George Washington Carver, Ruby Bridges Booker T Washington and Mary McCleod Bethune Charles Houston, Ralph Bunche, Fredrick Douglass WEB Dubois, Paul Robeson, Ralph Abernathy Benjamin Banneker, Marcus Garvey and Crispus Attucks Who’s death by the way Symbolized the American lie You cant declare the rights of all men While the people of African decent rights get denied But still we rise Thanks to Dr Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, The Black Panthers, the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen None who were showed any love Yeah it’s an uphill battle, But obviously greatness can be done. We can rise above this stigma That blacks are lazy and daunting That our worth is null and void And in essence minus nothing And of all the names mentioned And the greatness of their successes No one has been able to erase the evil transgressions of a racist mind And once you have experienced just a taste of it It changes your perception of time The oppression beats like the drum on the chariot Of when it was finally time to escape to freedom It's mine