The pain our eyes watched,
live,
on that day
that melted
our equilibrium,
our indestructibility,
our human rights,
the day we felt the world's pain,
as we rushed to schools
thousands of miles away
to get our children out,
we didn't know?
Who's watching our backs?
This was on CNN live?
And now as we celebrate
Thanksgiving, Christmas,
fourth of July...
help with food drives,
raise our kids,
pay our taxes,
buy girl scout cookies,
send our local little league
teams to regionals,
second class citizens?
can't be born in
another country and
live in America?
Only Americans live in America?
American Indians?
Will they can have casinos now?
Melting pot?
Will the pot is full you see
we only wanted a European white
melting pot,
not too spicy you know what I mean.
Breaking News:
Gumbo's here to stay baby.
Haven't you heard of:
Abraham Lincoln
Martin Luther King
Zora Neale Hurston
Muddy Waters
Nelson Mandela
Anwar Sadat
President Clinton
What about Freedom?
What about can we all get along?
What about B.B. King?
I have seen Bruce Springsteen and the E street band over 30 times,
I know about the "price you pay", "grown-up", "the E street shuffle",
I walked the boardwalk in Asbury Park at 2 a.m. in the rain,
feeling at home because of those guys.
Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Joni Mitchel, Steve Forbert, John Prine, Nancy Griffith,
Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Sharon Olds, Willie Dixon, Willie Nelson, Lucille Clifton,
Langston Hughes, Frank Horne, Countee Cullen, Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf, Etta James... Remember
remember the long hair guy in the Elvis movie: "No matter if you're black or white
if you're a freak)" we all love Elvis. I was in a light blue polyester
Dallas Cowboys pajamas, from Sears, watching SWAT (Robert Urich with his hat on backwards sharp shooting) when breaking news said Elvis was dead.
Ali Ali Ali: He's still pretty, still fighting, still teaching,
"freedom fries", pouring out good wine and "flip flop",
That's your move?
I can bake an apple pie
dusted with Cinnamon
that'll have the flag dancing,
I have my own Barbecue recipe,
I tail gate and bass fish,
I find the Village Voice
where ever I live,
I am a Dallas Cowboys fan
from back in the day:
Roger Stauback, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Harvey Martin, Ed "Too Tall" Jones,
Robert Newhouse, Preston Pearson, Tony Hill, Danny White, Billie Joe DuPree ( I loved that Little u), Tom Landry ...
I am a second class
citizen now?
I fight for preserving Blues man,
I owned a blues and Jazz club
where I booked some of the great blues
legends,
I sit in candle light listening to Trane, Monk, Bessie, Muddy,
Buddy Guy, Anson & the Rockets w/ Sam Myers, Steady Roliin'
Bob Margolin, Billie Holiday, Bird (I know how he got that name),
Bernard & Luther Allison, Charlie Christian...
Guitar just called me (Guitar Shorty)
when he was sixteen he played with Ray Charles,
Wilson Pickett, he was married to Jimi's sister,
he's my brother,
I am a second class
citizen now?
thirty two years later?
you're gonna make it hard
for me now, because I was born
in Egypt? I delivered the Washington Post
when I was thirteen, five high rises and
eighteen houses, you know how big the Sunday
Washington Post is? been paying taxes since
I was sixteen, registered for selective services
when I was eighteen before I even got a green card
just because I love America.
Little Steven my brother (No Justice, No Peace), right.
Man I know every Andy Griffith show by heart,
The Jefferson's, What's Happening,
My family was like the Cunningham's, we just ate more
fava beans then pot roast (with the little teeny potatoes),
I used to walk home through
Arlington Cemetery when I was twelve,
You know how many nights and days
I cried at the Vietnam Memorial,
how many squirrels I fed there
with wounded veterans
still fighting for MIA'S,
I am not the price
of you're incompetence
nor the hate that lives within you,
I am you're greatest achievement,
Freedom.
You're still digging our sand discovering,
studying our mummies, learning our medicine,
displaying our treasures,
learning from our architecture,
Now
help me
help you
to truly understand (see that's a lil' Tom & Cuba),
It ain't always 'bout da money,
Cigarettes are legal?
Pot is not?
Are you out of your mind?
Do You Understand What Research Means?
Do you know how many people die daily of cigarettes?
That's legal?
You ever see a doctor prescribing cigarettes
to a patient?
You're gonna let Michael J. Fox down?
Not on our watch man,
not on our watch.
We have to
use our brains
to full capacity.
In conclusion
I am a man
who chooses peace, integrity,
diplomacy (which requires no racism),
patients,
and the celebration
of what America
truly is:
