Why Do They Kneel?
We dragged them to this country and demanded they stand
And they stood
To plant the fields
They stood
To pick the cotton
They stood
To dig
To build
To live
To die
They stood
And when we told them they no longer had to stand under another man's yoke
They tried to stand
Free as any man
And we pushed them down
To remind them of their place
When our country fought wars under a flag meant for all
We asked them to stand too
And they stood
In muddy fields
They stood
With bullets raining down
They stood
Under a flag of freedom
They stood
And when they got home to celebrate those hard won victories
They tried to stand
With battle-scarred pride
And limbs sacrificed to freedom
And we pushed them down
With words like Jim Crow and Segregation
So they stood again, towards the dream of that flag meant for all
They stood up to vote, as was their right
And when they were killed
They stood up to march, as was their right
And when they were beaten
They stood up and were beaten
And stood up and were killed
And stood up
And stood up
Until now
They cannot stand any more
They cannot stand the beatings
They cannot stand the death
They cannot stand the empty promises
And empty looks from people who say "all men are created equal".
So now they kneel
Too exhausted to stand
They kneel
Too full of grief to rise
They kneel
Too full of prayer for hope
They kneel
Before a flag meant for all
They kneel
They will rise again when we stop righteously holding up that flag expecting them to stand
And instead reach down to lift us all up.
