feature: ‘america goddam’: artist revisits nina simone’s ‘mississippi goddamn’ with powerful poem

Flint water crisis has me so upset
The Charleston shooting made me lose my rest
And everybody knows it’s wrong, America Goddam

Trayvon Martin’s death has me so upset
Walter Scott’s made me lose my rest
And everybody knows it’s wrong, America Goddam
Can’t you see it? Can’t you feel it?
It doesn’t matter if we put our hands up in the air
I can’t stand to watch this much longer
Can god really hear our prayers?

Freddie Gray’s death gotten me so upset
Sandra Bland’s made me lose my rest
And everybody knows it’s wrong America Goddam
This is not a reality show tune
We are really set up to fail

Crooked cops on urban city trails
Innocent people sitting in jail
Cop cars cross my path
I think every second’s gonna be my last

Lord, have mercy on this country of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
We don’t deserve this, We don’t deserve this
Can god really hear our prayers?
Don’t tell me what I’m witnessing isn’t true
Me and my people just about due
It’s being filmed now so I know
They keep on saying, “don’t resist!”

But that’s just the trouble, we don’t resist
Hands up and unarmed, we don’t resist
Profiled at mall stores, we don’t resist
Overworked and underpaid, we don’t resist

Wrongly accused and mistreated, we don’t resist
They tell us we are crazy, we don’t resist
What are they doing? What are they proving?
I don’t know, I don’t know

Just try to do your very best
Stand-up be counted with all the rest
But how? when everybody knows it’s not equal America Goddam

I bet you thought I was kiddin’

Welfare lines, dirty neighborhood blocks
They try to say it’s our own fault
All I want is real freedom and equality
For my sister, my brother, my people and me

Politicians made false promises all these years
You told us to go to school and get an education
And talk real fine just like a white family
And you’d stop calling me a thug and lazy

Oh, but this whole country is full of lies
Watching innocent people die because of hate and lies
We don’t trust police any more
You keep on saying, “Don’t resist! Don’t resist!”

But that’s just the trouble, we don’t resist
Racism still alive, we don’t resist
Black lives matter, we don’t resist
Afraid to lose our freedom, we don’t resist

License and registration, we don’t resist
Hand ups and thrown to the ground, we don’t resist
Why don’t you see it? Why don’t you feel it?
I don’t know, I don’t know

You don’t have to kill me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Philadelphia
Everybody knows about New York
Everybody knows about America Goddam