Promised Generation
by Leah Oviedo
They promised our generation equality
Pulled hoods over our eyes to hide the reality
Work hard and you will reach the American dream
At any cost
They told us it was their fault when we failed
Does that sound familiar?
The real bad guys are still pale and rich
Stealing our tax dollars for oily, greasy power
Forget our schools
Forget our mentally ill
Cultivating poverty to keep us in check
Money will never buy happiness
Pull that hood off.
They said we can do anything a man could do
We can have it all
We are equal now
Except when they rape us
Except what they pay us
Pull that hood off.
Drug dealers and gangs roaming our streets killing our children
Lock away the bad guys, be tough on crime
Police are judge, jury and executioner
Jim Crow never went out of style
Just another form of slavery
Pull that hood off.
It gets better we’re told
Adults are mature, respectful
You can be out of the closet
Get married, be accepted
Unless you’re too flaming
Too gender bending
Pull that hood off.
The air is cleaner
We don’t need all these regulations
Don’t you want a new phone
A bigger car
Water turns our blood to cancer
Our mothers die
Mountaintops disappear and oceans turn to oil
Our fathers perish
Pull that damn hood off.
They are taking your jobs
Taking over your schools
They don’t deserve a living wage
Those people came here illegally
You think you did?
You think nobody civilized was here before you?
Pull that hood off.
Eat more chicken, less red meat
Pumped full of nutrients
Full of hormones and poison
Slaughter warehouse
Tortured to death
So you can have a 99 cent cheeseburger
Pull that hood off.
Terrorists are everywhere
Let’s kill them
On their own soil
Before they come here
Kill their children too
Just in case
Soldiers are disposable
We will honor them once a year
Pull that hood off your eyes
That suffocating, blinding, deadly hood.
Pull it off now before you don’t have any hands to pull with
It’s only uncomfortable at first
Then you feel the warm light
The light of a billion suns
Working together in solidarity
Not charity
Justice for sisters
Freedom for brothers
Healing our children
Who cares which bathroom you use
Opportunities for all abilities
Without borders
Respect Mother Earth
Open your eyes and look around at reality
Where is the equality
Pull that hood off and speak the reality.
I’m an artist and writer on a mission to bring healing arts into the mainstream. If you would like to support my heart work, please consider becoming a monthly patron on Patreon.com/Loviedo. For $1 a month, you can fund programs like my D.I.Y. Therapy: Healing Depression E-course, my monthly “Radical” e-zine and other creative healing projects, like “Cultivating Radical Self-Love: A Collaboration of Healers, Artists & Writers“.
Individual Empowerment 