Let Us Breathe | peterspoetry

Let Us Breathe

The symbols of oppression
Are tumbling to the ground
Bristol fashion followed
Wherever they are found
Profiteers from bondage
Who people sold as slaves
The merchants of such misery
Now turning in their graves
Of course, we know that they were just
Products of their time
Others turned a blind eye
To each and every crime
The wealth they made oft handed out
To grateful citizen
But it was stained with all the blood
Of persecuted men
And women and their children
Wrenched from their far off land
And forced to work for owners
Who lived in mansions grand
We all should now acknowledge
We share a legacy
Their deeds we find repugnant
Have formed our history
A death in Minnesota
Beneath a cruel knee
Has resonated round the world
So now we all can see
That though we are one human race
All equal we are not
A simple guiding principle
It seems that we forgot
Injustices for centuries
Have made our brethren seethe
Now we must work together
So one and all can breathe.