The Soul Of Our Nation Poem by Jim Yerman

I once thought the soul of our nation was a mix of colors
A mix of colors shining bright
but I was wrong…the soul of our nation is the absence of color
the soul of our nation is white.

(Which is crazy when you think about it…I mean that statement can't be right
because there's not a person in this land who's DNA is purely white!)

Still, I falsely thought since my life was easy…since I was safe and free
that everyone in America…had it as good as me.

What made me realize my mistake…what made me start to seethe
was when George cried out for his Momma…
when George yelled, "I can't breathe."

It was when I watched a white man deliberately take a black man's life
and I thought, "How can we be so unkind? "
It was when I saw the pain and sorrow grip the world
It's when I saw the friends and family he left behind.

I am sorry it has taken me so long…to hear over 200 years of pleas…
from the Indian reservations to the slave ships on the seas…

How could I have ignored them?
They've been pleading every day…
but now that I have heard them…I know they'll never go away

Nor should they…for it's time we listen to their pleas
It's time we make some changes…before our time is gone
It's time in the battle for our nations soul…to decide what side we're on.

And perhaps we'll find when we put an end to their over 200 years of hell
in saving the soul of our nation
we'll have saved our souls as well.