Degraded Freeman

By Marcus B. Christian

You are degraded freemen

When you can look upon wrongs,

Hatred and persecution,

And hold your tongues.

You are degraded freemen

When you can laugh and sing

While the piercing cries of a people

Through your beings ring.

-- Again I say, degraded --

Whether of black or white --

When the shade of a skin determines

One's wrong or right.

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