When Freedom Meets Equality

"All men are created equal" wrote Jefferson,
Yet it took a war to make all men free.

Blood was spilt,
Brothers killed brothers,
A House was torn,
And all that was left were crying mothers.

In spite of this war,
No men were created equal,
180,000 Negroes fought as heroes,
40,000 died in vain,
Slaves were free, yes, free at last!
But still treated the same.

Racism clouded our vision,
Ignorance poisoned the minds,
Jim Crow became the law,
Equality – no one could find.
It was trapped,
Hidden,
Buried deep in the ground,
Whites held it there
In hopes it would not make a sound.
They tried to kill it,
Through fear and abuse,
The Klan came about to oppress any use.

African-Americans stuck to the motto
“In God We Trust,”
And in time,
God brought up equality straight from the dust.
Leaders came about,
Rosa Parks refused to move,
Blacks and Whites joined hands
So that equality could move
Out of the grave of oppression dug by the racists,
Out of the firm grasp of the outraged bigots,
And distributed unto everyone,
As MLK envisioned.

Though many men have their differences,
America is now truly equal.
No more pain, nor sorrow,
No more citizens not seen as people.
What was never thought of in the past
Is now reality in the present.
It took a long while,
But America can finally present,
The result of when freedom for all
Meets equality for everyone.

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