I Am (Justice)

i am, become... i am the African slave working in the deep Mississippi sun; his eyes, his muscles, his back, his heart, all shouting 'freedom'... i am the college student, hanging from a tree in the sixties south, who died for his conviction... i am the minister who joined the protest for peace, dignity, and equality, his face bashed in by the officer's club, handcuffed in the back of the van... i am the turning of the seasons through prison bars, the watered down coffee, the tiny cell. i am the one ridiculed and rundown by the conservative righteous right, for standing up for individual rights. i am the young family left stranded on food stamps and unemployment checks, their future teetering... i am the illegal immigrant beaten in the Arizona desert, left to die by the side of the road.... i am the working poor, the honest and true, driven to desperation... i am hard and coiled, i am America crying out for justice, , , i am, become...