Having never been a slave
Nor owned a slave
What I know of slavery
I have read in books
But in my mind
The shame of mankind's cruelties
can not always be overlooked
In the family albums of misery
Why my ancestors came to the new world
really is no unsolved mystery
There was a potato famine in Ireland you see
Others came from persecution here to flee
But today I am an American that told is history
I share all this with you as a friend
And in this melting pot of humankind
I pray we are all brothers and sisters in the end
We cannot answer for years long past
For sins that those before us have done
For in the end each was put on earth
And in the eyes of God we were a chosen one