Showing posts with label American Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Justice. Show all posts

Sunday, July 02, 2023

The Death of Civil Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: JUSTICE


The Death of Civil Rights

 

From the march across the Pettus bridge

To the martyrdom of the King

From the passage of Voting Rights

To the cry: Let Freedom Ring!

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The fading of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

The line of progress broken

The dream is in retreat

The betrayal goes unspoken

The circle incomplete

 

America must hang her head

Embarrassment and shame

The end of our great promise

Delivered in our name

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The dying of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

(Supreme Court ends Affirmative Action)

Thursday, June 22, 2023

The Ballad of Christopher Wray

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Ballad of Christopher Wray

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

How many crimes did you ignore today?

 

You were in the highest position of power

As we marched toward the critical hour

We assumed a position of supplication

When insurrection threatened the nation

While you stood down in a state of denial

Democracy faced its greatest trial

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Who paid you to get out of the way?

 

When the nation needed a strong hand

You flatly refused to take a stand

With the strength and courage you clearly lack

We finally took our country back

Oh the stories you might tell

Instead you’ll take them straight to hell

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Why do you still hold office today?

 

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

The Corrupt Court

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE


The Corrupt Court

 

After decades of neglect

When the press turned their backs

As they did for American heroes

In a former time and frame of mind

The media shines its glaring light

On the infamous corporate court

The highest in the land

The institution beyond reproach

To reveal its corporate brand

 

Accepting bribes from billionaires

Elaborate gifts and housing deals

Has become a standard practice

For the members of this court

 

That there are two systems of justice

Is now an indisputable fact

One for the rich and privileged

Another for the poor, the black

The native, brown and homeless

On the other side of the tracks

Monday, June 12, 2023

Thirty-Seven Counts

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Thirty-seven Counts

 

Thirty-seven counts of federal crime

Not a single one is treason

Many counts of misconduct

Many more of malfeasance

 

When will he be brought to bear

For inciting a mob to violence

For organizing a coup d’état

The highest of all offense

 

He made a fool of government

He used us to make money

Some laughed at his buffoonery

But it was never really funny

 

Now he must go to trial

To stand before judge and jury

If they want to convict him

They’d better do it in a hurry

 

Thirty-seven counts of negligence

Thirty-seven counts of losing

Counts of hiding evidence

Does he still find it so amusing?

 

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Mar-a-Lago Burning

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE


Mar-a-Lago Burning

 

The rope is lowered ‘round the neck

The wheels of justice turning

The dealer playing out the deck

That’s Mar-a-Lago burning

 

He thought that he would never pay

For instigating revolution

He did the deed, he got away

Too late for a solution

He didn’t think, he didn’t know

The time has come to let it go

Nobody cares about the past

That ship has left the port

The next election’s coming fast

We don’t have time for court

 

But justice strikes like thunder

The tide is finally turning

At last the guilty will go under

That’s Mar-a-Lago burning

 

Wednesday, April 05, 2023

The Arraignment

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


The Arraignment

 

Lord knows it took a while

The squeaky wheels of justice turn

The former leader goes to trial

The flames of payback burn

 

The man no one could ever touch

Who always skated ‘round the law

His confidence was way too much

His manners much too raw

 

But time runs out for everyone

The proudest and the best

The slumlord’s spoiled little son

Did not survive his latest test

 

He can’t believe what’s going down

How can this world be so unfair?

I’m the man who sold this town!

Sorry Donald, no one cares

 

Sunday, April 02, 2023

Ironies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS


Ironies

 

The irony is

Poverty hits hardest those who

don’t believe in helping the poor

 

The irony is

Global warming most victimizes

those who deny its very existence

 

The irony is

Homelessness comes to those

who least expect it

 

The irony is

Those who condemn sins most

loudly are most likely to be tempted

 

The irony is

Those who cry injustice are often

those who are most unjust

 

Life is filled with ironies

There runs a steady stream

On the daily news

In our daily lives

In the lives of those we know

In the lives of those we don’t

 

In a world of the extraordinary

The extraordinary becomes ordinary

 

Ironic, isn’t it?

 

Wednesday, March 08, 2023

Dehumanization

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Dehumanization

 

Dehumanization begins with

The delineation of classes

Be it royalty or wealth

The division of the masses

Into higher and lower beings

Enables cruelty and neglect

To those of lesser means

The undeserving of respect

Born to serve their betters

Those of higher pedigree

Those of wealth, the jetsetters

Those who brandish their degrees

From institutions of privilege

Harvard, Yale and Trinity

 

They’re simply better than the ones

Who sweat for their next meal

The ones who live by their hands

The ones who often beg and steal

Won’t they ever understand

By the turning of the wheel

They’re simply cruder, lesser than

The ones who carry the great seal

The royal bloodline of the grand

 

Within the circles of the few

Who speak in whispers soft but sure

There is nothing we can do

To ease their suffering

We are the chosen, wise and pure

While they are something more obscure

Dare I say (something less than human)

 


Thursday, February 09, 2023

Birth of the Nation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Birth of the Nation

 

Two hundred forty-seven years ago

We founded a new nation

Rich in ideals and principles

Poor in integrity

Crippled with hypocrisy

 

For two hundred forty-seven years

We have advanced and retreated

Fought for a better world

Yielded to degradation

Fought for justice and equality

Fought for slavery and genocide

 

We have expanded the electorate

We have pulled it back again

We have enshrined justice for all

But withheld it for minorities

 

We were born with great promise

For all of humankind

To not know we have fallen short

One would have to be blind

 

The greatness of our nation

Is that we always push ahead

We acknowledge our shortcomings

We pay tribute to the dead

 

We may never find the answers

But we will always find a way

To improve the way things are

To ensure a better day

 

Monday, January 02, 2023

Deep State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Deep State

 

We nearly lost our democracy

Not because we believed in conspiracies

Not because we believe in a deep state

Not because the deep state took control

of our institutions of government

but because corrupt and power hungry

individuals used the “deep state” to

persuade a large number of people to

turn against their own government

 

If there is a deep state (and I believe

there is) it is the enemy of democracy

It is allied with the forces that attacked

and attempted to overthrow our government

That defied our democratic institutions

The deep state worked overtime to

subvert our system of justice

The deep state is and represents the

wealthiest of the wealthy elite

The deep state created and promotes

the Federalist Society

The deep state virtually owns the

highest court in the land

The deep state fights against all limits

on campaign financing

The deep state supports disenfranchisement

The deep state opposes voting rights

The deep state supports gerrymandering

The deep state opposes all democratic reforms

 

The deep state is beyond political parties

The deep state wants control of the

political, judicial and legislative branches

The deep state is eager to impose a one-man rule

(the easier to control)

 

Never believe that the deep state is defeated

It can never be extinguished

In many ways the deep state is winning

Only democracy can oppose them

Only democracy can defeat them

The fight will never end

 

Sunday, December 04, 2022

Dreamers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DREAM


Dreamers

 

In all my days I’ve wanted nothing more

Than to dream and act on my dreams

Our lives have so much hardship in store

Our ambitions are just what they seem

 

We want a chance at higher education

We want jobs at a decent wage

We want to live in a fair and thriving nation

We want to see an enlightened age

 

We are the ones who believe in the dream

The ones who will carry the light

We wish to join the American team

We will keep our goals in sight

 

We are really no different than you are

We desire the same things you do

A home, a family a working car

To prove that the dream is still true

 

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Old Jim Crow

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE


Old Jim Crow

 

Old Jim Crow is alive and well

He resides in the highest court

Where Uncle Tom pounds a gavel

And civil rights earns stiff retort

 

They killed the Voting Rights Act

Discrimination does not exist!

But designer districting is a fact

You can’t vote if you’re on their list

 

Louisiana has one black congressman

Alabama has one as well

If you’re black and vote in Florida

They just might put you in jail

 

Maybe someday we’ll say goodbye

But that day has not arrived

When the Court is in your pocket

The rule of law is a lie

 

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

Indian School

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIAN HISTORY


Indian School

 

They kidnapped kids by force of law

Sent them to indoctrination camps

Cut out their native tongues

Severed them from tribe and family

Fed them with spiritual lies

Forbid them from being Indians

Forbid them from being themselves

Taught them that their ways were wrong

That the red road was a path to hell

 

They should have called it genocide

For that is what it was

Genocide of language and culture

Genocide of religion and history

 

When they refused to learn their lessons

They beat and abused them

They called them ungrateful animals

They learned a different lesson

That white people were cruel

That they fear the Indian ways

That if they were to survive

As individuals and as a people

They would have to escape

They would have to remember

Their language and traditions

They would have to return home

To live their lives as Indians

Proud stubborn and free

 

Monday, October 10, 2022

Freedom in Chains

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS


Freedom in Chains

 

If your sense of freedom

Requires putting others in chains

Your freedom is a prison

Like lightning in the rain

 

Freedom is a right

For yourself and not others

When your actions infringe

On your sisters and brothers

You have crossed a line

That should never be crossed

When your rights restrain mine

Every one of us has lost

 

Freedom for one

Must bring freedom for all

If it fails that simple test

Do not answer the call