Temperate Hostile

i can see some blind eyes/ take sidelines/ inside i'm/ wondering why/ but i spy it's the right time/ to make a move/ but don't assume/ that we know all the right lines// when taught to be just fine/ and alright/ with a wined and dined lightning time refined life/ that's built on the backs of those in the tightening binds life/ while we live the swine life/ and complain there's a recession on/ ‘cause uncle sam won’t pays the bills and for pills when our depression's on// i can see gangs not forming but formed/ in small towns where we act as if the norm is still the norm/ is still white and alright and our biggest plight/is for some new insight/ about what to watch after work, over dinner on a tuesday night// tryin’ to catch fame and cast blame/ on those who would point out the blight/ that our ignorant racism ignores, out of sight/ but in our minds we make judgments with our wallets/ installin’ gourmet grocery stores for our overweight pets// before we’d ever allow community centers, sayin’ “not in my backyard”/ but it must be hard/ avoidin’ certain roads with your luxury cars/ but maybe you’ll care when it’s your daughter comin’ home with the scars// and, no you don’t seem to be completely blind/ taught by the fear-mongering pundits you hide behind/ stopped me once, said you could tell/ that the world is all goin’ to hell/ but did you notice your little pocket grove isn’t doin’ too well// so fall right to expectations/ while sayin’ in this nation/ it’s a problem of documentation/ you can claim my observations are mere exaggerations / ‘cause anyway, it belongs to you, your space, your stuff, your bigoted determination// to get away from criminality you moved to the suburbs from the big city/ ‘cause nobody, not no one, will ever take your liberty/ but from your actions it’s clear that what you fear is finding out that they’re just like you, but see/ perhaps their only crime was poverty//We fill our lives with apathy to cope with the abandonment/ we are the victims of a system but have also had a hand in it/ from nazis to commies to terrorist cells/ we can look through all the books on every library’s history shelves// but faster than the american justice system fills up its cells/ we find ways to place the blame instead of changin’ ourselves/ and the first step is seein’ that it happens in your home town/ tell me what’s goin’ down/the times they are a-changin’ and it’s gotta happen now


Here's to hopin'
Your mind stays open
But here's to hopin'
You don't stay the same
'Cause no one ever
Made a difference
If they never
Made a change