ALBUQUERQUE, NM -
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you.
Then you win. -Ghandi
We couldn’t even afford to protest
Until you gave up our jobs, America
You wanted us on the streets
And now we’re home
Built elaborate institutions of hired learning
Taught us nothing, except
How to go into debt
We’re right where you want us
Sleeping in the park
Next to garbage can
Erupting with diplomas
That will finally be worth
Their weight in paper and
Keep the heat on
The constitution will not be televised
Broadcasts
Or brought to you by Citibank
Assembly is a right
Not a permit
Employed media and fear
To keep us in homes we don’t own
In these times
Where it takes more paperwork
To congregate
Than segregate
Welcome to you, America
Home of the Dollar Store
Where everything is 99 percent
Land of the Free…
For now…
And for the first six months
But after that
Interest is a bitch
Gave us banks
Instead of better standards of living
Where the average worker
Puts life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
On lay-a-way
gave us credit
Instead of competitive wages
Cheapened our children’s education
Then said
If we want the good shit
We can pay for it
Said there’s too much overhead
To let us retire
Which is about as American
As McDonald’s apple pies
Made the Statue of Liberty a liar
Gave her our tired, our poor
As we’re here
Huddled en masse yearning to breathe free
In the name of freedom
We’re dying in the streets
Dying at our desks
Noose a life insurance policy around our
Just to pay the rent
Pays out better than health insurance
Cause when we’re dead there’s less risk
While our premiums are spent
On financial instruments that don’t
fuckin’ exist
Orphaned us to a system
That blames us when we die
Use the market to hide behind
Statements like
“Health care is not a human right”
Blame our death on our love of freedom
When the heart attack and hypertension
necks
fries
Come from being under attack
Every working day of our lives
The bottom line
Is not just to separate us from our money
It’s to separate us from one another
Cause when people get together ‘round some
bullshit
They’ll organize the fcuk out of each other
So I won’t listen to you tell me that
Unions are the problem
And the WTO is here to help
Or that
“For quality purposes”
You gotta privatize the information
Cadillac plan the internet
While the bought and sold
Corporate media BEEN for sale
Tell me another one
Cause laughter is the only thing I can afford right now
Tell me that job creation
Isn’t the furthest thing from the minds
Of the 1%
Cause you ain’t gotta be noble prize winner in economics
To know that low wages and labor equal high profits
Tell me another one
Like being a patriot means being silent
Like Dr. King’s legacy wasn’t manufactured
Into a corporate icon
Like he didn’t get a bullet in his head
As soon as he started talking about poverty
Like he didn’t say
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal”
Tell me another one
Herman, fuckin’, Cain
To blame myself
For being 99 and not 1
For being on the losing end of a class war
Started by “people”
(In tax designation only)
With their hands so far up your ass
That you Muppet Marie Marionette phrases like
“Let them eat cake”
This is not a laughing matter
We’ve been out here for months
And winter is coming…
Our homes don’t have heat
And yours do
You’ve even banned us from the park benches
SO guess who coming for dinner
What used to be a problem of the poor
Is now a problem of yours…
There’s a Russian Proverb that goes:
The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food
But what do we eat
When we have nothing else to lose…
To you.
© Hakim Bellamy 11.11.11
Full audio http://soundcloud.com/hakimbe/first-you-laughed-for-un
