white people are so scared of black peoplethey bulldoze out to the countryand put up houses on little loop-dee-loop streetsand while america gets its heart cut right out of its chestthe berlin wall still runs down main streetseparating east side from westand nothing is stirring, not even a mousein the boarded-up stores and the broken-down housesso they hang colorful banners off all the street lampsjust to prove they got no mannersno mercy and no senseand i'm wondering what it will takefor my city to risefirst we admit our mistakesthen we open our eyesthe ghosts of old buildings are haunting parking lotsin the city of good neighbors that history forgoti remember the first time i saw someonelying on the cold streeti thought: i can't just walk past herethis can't just be truebut i learned by exampleto just keep moving my feetit's amazing the things that we all learn to doso we're led by denial like lambs to the slaughterserving empires of style and carbonated sugar waterand the old farm road's a four-lane that leads to the malland our dreams are all guillotines waiting to falli'm wondering what it will takefor my country to risefirst we admit our mistakesand then we open our eyesor nature succumbs to one last dumb decisionand america the beautifulis just one big subdivision (Subdivision- Ani Difranco) Tagged: america, anger, ani difranco, attacks, change, Diane Fedele, division, election, GOP, ignorance, justice, McCain, music, Obama, poem, poetry, prejudice, racism, revolution, sadness, usa