M.L.K. Jr's Dream Poem by James Gibbons

For years of black toil, what is owed
years of black travail, what is owed
a debt, an overdue check M.L.K. claims
debt against the U.S.? You've seen the stats
4% of the population,50% of inmates
Gov't stats, young black mortality
cracking out Medicaid babies,
scratched living, nowhere to go,
Mexican brown, easy money, violence
black on black perpetuated, eating their own
it must even out, Lincoln proclimated, shot
650,000 troops dead, piece of paper giving freedom
torn by lash, by whip, replaced by iron conformity
born Africans, shipped in chains, stripped
oh yes, stripped black, naked, yes, stripped naked
color blind black hated those who could see
check Martin claims? a check for Martin's people
check for claims? check for naked babies? yes
a check for those strangling, hanged by the neck,
yes, a check for the red fire of the burning cross
Yes, yes and yes; oh God yes.
Selma, Jim Crow, buses back, dewy eyed dead
yes, a check for all of Martin's people.