Biloxi Beach

Sunny beaches
Tranquil and smooth
Who'd have guessed that your shores
Could be so abused?

Doctor Mason
Your cause was a song
You rallied your people
And lead them so far

Wade in
Water, lapse
Can a wave tell a color?
Does the beach know they're Black?

A storm on the beach
Dark and heavy
A tide of hate
Breached the levy

Officers,
Wielding clubs, striking backs
Don’t you swear to protect them?
The Whites and the Blacks?

Angry mobs
Alongside the road
They scream and they heckle
But what do they know?

Little White girls
I wonder what they saw
Did they see the blood?
Did they know it was wrong?

Biloxi Beach
Wade-ins for peace
What was the reward?
Home raids, screams

Fifty years since
Reaching resolution
But for the lives that were lost
Can there be absolution?