4th of July

It’s America
The land of the free
And the home of the brave
At least so they say
Be proud to celebrate our independence day
Eat hotdogs and hamburgers today
Dressed in red, white and blue
You and your bae
But what do we really have to celebrate?
July 4th, 1776 was the date
Today just mired in political debate
Doesn’t make sense
Both sides just spew hate
In love we fail to demonstrate
Even though each weekend
Many of us congregate
And worship
Beg God to forgive
And bring fortune
When I look at this country
I do not practice patriotism blindly
I do so when I see the signs around me
When I see neighbors become friends
And more than that
When they say I love you and I’ll always take you back
When I see teachers happy to be stuck behind paper stacks
Sign hearts on all the papers they give back
In the America I see
Doesn’t matter if your white and your boyfriend is black
Doesn’t matter if it is the other way as a matter of fact
I see an America where men love men
And raise beautiful sons
Regardless of who he chooses to love their love cannot be undone
My America you sure are a beautiful one
Your majestic peaks
Your busy bustling city streets
America I know you’re beautiful
But sometimes I turn on the news
And you seem so awful
Shootings and killings
Police assignations
Another black man dead on the pavement
Cause the police were scared
The man had long hair
And clearly had their hands in the air
A crowd of people scream how do you dare?
How do you not care?
My heart hurts
I’ve been there
Officer how could you kill your brother?
Didn’t you hear Jesus demand love one another?
Assassin is not the job of a police officer
But America I still love you
Even with the ugliness you do
With the wealth disparity
The political hypocrisy
Cause I know I am not perfect
And neither is my country
But it promised it would be
On the fourth of July
A couple hundred years back
That is when we set this track
Our ride to our future
Made from our past
So let’s make a future that is going to last
Be honest with what is our task
And if we are a Christian nation
Let’s be that
Love our neighbors
As ourselves
All fifty stars
United to thirteen bars
Forget that trip to Mars
Our future is on Earth
America we can do it
No need to prove it
Just be who we are
Imperfect
And with scars
But there is no other place
I would rather be
Cause here in America
Is the only place I can be me