Bound and binded

I woke up this morning a free man
Now I'm cuffed and scolded, branded and burnt
Lay bare naked upon the floor

They took my clothes, my wife, my children
They took my identity and bruised my heart
They tell me my name is Gabriel and refusal will bring pain

Is it wrong to be black?

Every morning we are woken with stern words of repute
Ushered to the cotton fields
Whipped when we don't work hard enough

Jefferson has been sent away
We pleaded and begged as he was dragged through the dirt
Merciless and inhumane our master whips us for HIS mistakes

Is it wrong to be black?

Every night we sleep in squalor
We lie on straw meant for the pigs
For apparently we are little more...than animals!

We don't get the luxury of remaining clean
For soap we are not worthy
Besides...what difference can it make to skin black as coal?

Is it wrong to be black?

We pick the cotton from the fields with pin point precision
Like plucking clouds from the sky
While we sing to cleanse our souls

Oh freedom
Oh freedom
Oh freedom over me
And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my lord and be free

Is it wrong to be black?

I lie still and motionless scared out of my mind
I see men around me pining for a loved one or mourning a child
But I also hear my mother...her voice a din

She says "son...it is not a sin to be black"

Reviews

[Kenny Bellamy]

I feel like a great deal of folk would pass this sort of writing up, its hard to deal with these issues directly. As a fellow Brit living now living in the states I see just the cyclical institutionalized garbage that keeps blacks in situations that perpetuate everyone's suffering. I really feel where this comes from Matt, that being said I wonder how this topic could be better brought into the here and the now. The repetition is resonate, its powerful, I think theres more to be said here.

[Valentine]

NO...it is a sin to think negatively of any color, race, or nationality, or religion. Red, yellow, black, and white...all are precious in God's sight. God does not make junk! Valentine