for every child born

There’s no guarantee

for every blessing

There’s a storm

for every backwood in Mississippi

There’s a monument in Washington

for every black male

There’s a bullet chasing his future

for every Medgar Evers

There’s a byron de la beckwith

for every boonie in the heart of the bigoted south

There’s a shattered echo of freedom

for every MLK

There’s a james earl ray

for every Bloody Sunday in Alabama

There’s a sacred place

for every Abraham Lincoln

There’s a john wilkes booth

for every dylann roof

There’s a St Aloysius church

for every newspaper published

There’s a tragedy in the fine print

for every Trayvon Martin

There’s a mother

for every Anthem

There’s a soldier ready to kneel

for every segregation today, tomorrow, and, forever

There’s a Civil Rights Act

For every John F. Kennedy

For every Emmett Till

For every Civil Rights martyr

There’s an America

whose declarations left you

Broken.