Maybe we've gotten too comfortable 

We've started wearing red, white and blue 

And have forgotten the horrors of America's truth

We've started calling America home, yet it's history's demons are still reaching our youth 

We've been praising Lady Liberty,but her freedom has yet to been given to me

And yet we are still waiting for our piece of the American Dream

Maybe we've forgotten the sting of harsh water hoses or the feel of open lacerations on our backs

Or the sound of the whip cracked to cripple or deep bites from dog attacks

Or maybe we've just forgotten what it's like to be Black

We forgot the America that twisted and bopped to our music but made us give up our bus seats to stand in the back

The America that built justice, jail and economic systems that are virtually racial traps

We forgot the America that crossed to the other side of the road or held their purses closer at the sight of us grouped in a few

We forgot the culture snatched from our grasp making it a trend for them and a stereotype for you

We forgot the America that pulled us over because of the color of our skinOr the thousands of American restaurants and shops that wouldn't let us in.

We've forgotten the screams of our mothers being raped and the sent postcards of our fathers swinging from trees

We forgot that Independence Day once didn't apply to you or me.

Now we cringe at the news of our loved ones killed by police and never serving time

Maybe we've forgotten that simply being black is still a crime 

We are shocked now at stories of people like us still being strangled and gunned down to this day

Or perhaps we've forgotten that America has always been this way