By Charles S. Kramer
Is Ferguson a turning point
or just another burning point?
Will Staten Island’s choking gasp
Put us on a a better path?
In our zeal to protect our land
Have we lost sight of founding fathers’ plan?
Our system must provide the means
for have-nots to embrace the dream
or there’ll be no reason not to stray,
to burn and pillage, make the system pay.
It’s been years since Martin King
Taught Crosby Stills and Nash to sing
And violence left the city streets
And society’s sectors began to meet.
But has anything really changed?
Has any progress been obtained?
Has anything been really gained?
Or is everything still the same?
Is Ferguson a turning point
or just another burning point?
Can Staten Island wake us up
And help us realize promise sought?
Once those who lived below the line
could see the path to better times.
If they did what they needed to.
They believed in time they could break through
But somehow things changed in midstream
Blurring the promised American dream
No longer to all men believe
That their families can succeed.
People now feel trapped at birth,
hard built rainbows have crashed to earth.
Blind justice means some can’t see
a path by which to join the dream.
So tempers flare, the system frays
on a fateful Missouri day.
But it’s not too late to understand
freedom and success march hand in hand.
For an America down still can stand
to reclaim the road to the promised land
Let’s make today the turning point
Not just another burning point
Let Staten Island’s choking gasp
Put us back on freedom’s path.
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Under analysis is a nationally syndicated column of the Levison Group. Charles Kramer is a principal of the St. Louis Missouri based law firm Riezman Berger, PC Comments or criticisms about this column may be sent to the Levison Group in c /o this paper or direct to comments@levisongroup.com.
© 2014 Under Analysis LLC
