Revolutionary Review: Ode to America
Matthew Caston
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: Expressions
Am I to pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America,
To the establishment that set me back
Two generations through ignorance and mass hysteria?
Am I to humbly sing
A hymn of veneration to this beastly thing
That has made the dollar king?
Am I suppose to love this place
That has made my existence Hell,
This place that hated me because of race
And that has forced me to fail?
Am I to give my life
For something that has filled me with such strife
And that has made misery my wife?
Am I to hold my head high
While I am beaten by those in power?
Am I not to ask "Why
Are my people forced to cower
In a country that stands for 'freedom?'"
If I do, it is marked as treason,
And I am painted as a godless terrorist heathen.
Am I to be an individual
In a place that persecutes those who are different?
Am I to feel content only as the residual
Of a history that remains incognizant?
Am I to be an American citizen,
In essence a second class denizen,
While those like me are seen as less than men?
Am I? Am I? I say no,
I will not sing, I will not love,
I will not become a modern day minstrel show,
Nor will I ever pledge to what has replaced God high above.
I pledge my allegiance to the disenfranchised,
Those that will one day rise
And destroy this "democracy" that I despise.
RIOT
Of the United States of America,
To the establishment that set me back
Two generations through ignorance and mass hysteria?
Am I to humbly sing
A hymn of veneration to this beastly thing
That has made the dollar king?
Am I suppose to love this place
That has made my existence Hell,
This place that hated me because of race
And that has forced me to fail?
Am I to give my life
For something that has filled me with such strife
And that has made misery my wife?
Am I to hold my head high
While I am beaten by those in power?
Am I not to ask "Why
Are my people forced to cower
In a country that stands for 'freedom?'"
If I do, it is marked as treason,
And I am painted as a godless terrorist heathen.
Am I to be an individual
In a place that persecutes those who are different?
Am I to feel content only as the residual
Of a history that remains incognizant?
Am I to be an American citizen,
In essence a second class denizen,
While those like me are seen as less than men?
Am I? Am I? I say no,
I will not sing, I will not love,
I will not become a modern day minstrel show,
Nor will I ever pledge to what has replaced God high above.
I pledge my allegiance to the disenfranchised,
Those that will one day rise
And destroy this "democracy" that I despise.
RIOT
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