VOICE OF YOUTH

Revolutionary Worker #1194, April 6, 2003, posted at rwor.org

The RW received the following poem which was written by a college student.

State of the Union

Nightmares scroll from teleprompters
Read aloud by thieves and monsters
Who promise to be ruthless mobsters
In order to appease their sponsors
Valentines shiver in the chaotic cold,
Iraqi lives are bought and sold
As stocks and bonds investors hold
Rise along with each death toll

Oh say, is that blood in the red stripes of star spangled?
The same blood of lynchings on corpses that dangled
That flows thanks to demons pretending they're angels
Who want nothing more than for truth to get tangled?
Oh say, don't they howl like a mad dog with rabies,
In support of a war that steals parents from babies,


Wave flags, stand idle, watch earth turned to Hades


On a mini-tv in a rich man's Mercedes?

Oh say, don't they parrot "My country, my flag"
No matter how many that country attacks?
And once they press buttons they never look back
Saying "Those aren't Americans dying: relax."
By the dawn's early light they will sell you your rights
But the price in return you will pay in the night


In exchange for your freedom, they demand your own fright


But when fear is with them, freedom slips out of sight.

And the rocket's red glare is filling the air
And the killing machines all ask for your prayers
"War is upon us, you better prepare!"
they snarl like lions, content in their lair.
And no schoolroom or church or CNN broadcast
Could possibly capture the suffering in Baghdad


When bodies are charred within seconds of bomb blasts


Or crushed 'neath the weight of the steel tanks that roll past

But war sure brings comfort to a select, heartless few
Who promise repeatedly that this includes you
Who say "Just breathe easy, war soon will be through
And then you can do what you normally do.
Why must you stand in the flow of the waters--
if Saddam's just a tyrant, then why even bother?


Don't you want safety for our sons and daughters


Even if you must watch innocents slaughtered?"

Well no, motherfucker, what I want is the end
Of this cycle of killing, then killing again
You reap all this carnage with the nerve to pretend
That it means peace and justice lurk `round the bend.
But a war against terror led by the U.S. of A.
Is like a war against racism led by the K.K.K.


And you don't give us freedom by taking away


Free speech from the people with something to say.

And how dare you insist that you protect all our rights
While you round up immigrants whose skin isn't white
You must think that we'll all say that things are alright
As long as injustice is removed from our sight.
But the eyes of the people are as good as our ears
And our sense of injustice is greater than fear


This war has arrived, but one thing is clear


We'll shout loud enough for the whole world to hear.

You may hope that the movement accepts its defeat
But know that our spirits will never be beat
We will march on your campuses, sidewalks, and streets
'cause you can't stop a fire by increasing the heat.

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
rwor.org
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