Gettin' Woke Talking Blues

Had a dream I was walking down the street Minding my business and checking my tweets When an old man stopped me and shook me awake With a real swift kick and a firm handshake I said hey old man I ain't bothering nobody Trying to have a dream here He said you need to know what it means to be woke It's not about sleep and it's not a joke You gotta stop pretending there's nothing's wrong And open your heart to being strong We need you We need your courage Black people are being murdered in the streets by police Every day He said let me tell you if you wanna be woke You gotta listen to the stories of all the folk, and I mean all of them Women, Black, Latino, L-G-B-T-Q-I-A and immigrants Especially if you're white Especially if you're male Especially if you're ignorant Well I gave a holler and jumped outta bed And said who you calling ignorant? I was seeing red I ain't no racist now leave me alone This ain't my problem so go on home But that is the problem you can't be bothered While our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered White privilege is your reality That makes you ignore this tragedy No offense he said You just ain't woke yet But at least you're awake now And I got your attention Love and respect are what people need Not hate and neglect and racist greed You gotta get it right with the people around you And work for justice it's up to you You gotta show up Carry a sign Stand up and be counted Cause if you don't show up and you don't stand up And you don't speak up we oughta give up You won't make a difference you'll sit at home Clicking likes on Facebook 'til the cows come home We call that slacktivism Silence is violence, my friend The only way to get out is to get woke From that lily white American dream you live in You know the one The one with a white house and a white car and a white picket fence And two and half white children and a wife and a dog And a best friend who is African American So you think you know what it means to be black in America And a big screen tv where you can watch Fox and Friends In total surround sound ignorance With no immigrants cause they got deported And no black people cause they got murdered And no muslims cause they got banned And no poor people cause they got scammed There's no food and no fruit 'cause you ain't gonna pick it No forests, no animals not even a cricket 'Cause they all burned down and the ice all melted Cause there's not a gosh darn thing that we respected How's your dream now? Now getting active has its price They'll call you names that aren't so nice They'll call you a commie and a big fat traitor A snowflake liberal paid demonstrator Be proud Carry your communist flag all the way to the public library Check out a book by a person of color Read it in jail The time is now, you know what to do America is counting on you Get woke and don't repeat history This is our time, let's make herstory