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Thursday, June 10, 2004

Revolution X

It's the poem that got a teacher fired... and blacklisted. It sent (parts of) the school into a furor. She was called 'UnAmerican'. They want her mother to find the poem and destroy it.

How can she be UnAmerican, when protection of Freedom of Speech is fundamental to our way of life? It's called the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of No Rights. Anway, I leave it to the young lady:

    REVOLUTION X
    Bush said no child would be left behind
    And yet kids from inner-city schools
    Work on Central Avenue
    Jingling cans that read
    Please sir, may I have some more?
    They hand out diplomas like toilet paper
    And lower school standards
    Because
    Underpaid, unrespected teachers
    Are afraid of losing their jobs
    Funded by the standardized tests
    That shows our competency
    When I'm in detox.
    This is the Land of the Free ...
    Where the statute of limitations for rape is only five damn years!
    And immigrants can't run for President.
    Where Muslims are hunted because
    Some suicidal men decided they didn't like
    Our arrogant bid for modern imperialism.
    This is the Land of the Free ...
    You drive by a car whose
    Bumper screams
    God bless America!
    Well, you can scratch out the B
    And make it Godless
    Because God left this country a long time ago.
    The founding fathers made this nation
    On a dream and now
    Freedom of Speech
    Lets Nazis burn crosses, but
    Calls police to
    Gay pride parades.
    We somehow
    Can afford war with Iraq
    But we can't afford to pay the teachers
    Who educate the young who hold the guns
    Against the "Axis of Evil"
    Land of the Free ...
    This is the land
    If you're politically assertive
    They call you a traitor and
    Damn you to ostracism.
    Say good-bye to Johnny Walker Lindh
    And his family.
    Bye Bye
    American Pie.
    So maybe
    My ideas about this nation
    Don't resolve around perfection
    But at least I know
    Education is more important
    Than money.
    Land of the Free . . .
    If this was utopia
    We'd have to see each other naked
    Before we got married
    But instead, we see each other naked all the time
    Because the government has my social security number
    And the name of my dog!
    And then we make babies,
    But don't worry, they won't be left behind
    And they grow up saying
    God bless America!
    But they don't know who Bush is
    Because they never learned the Presidents.
    And they will ride the ship Amistad
    To our dreamland shores
    Bearing the same shackles as us.
    I'm here to say that
    Generation X
    Is pissed and we are taking over,
    Ripping down the American illusion of perfection
    We are the future generation
    I have my qualifications
    I know it looks like Angel Soft paper,
    But don't worry
    It's a diploma
    Do I look qualified?
    You can take our toilet paper,
    But you can't take our Revolution.

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