Melanie Gardiner
On They Fought
Upon the chains that held them down,
A fire was stoked, fueled by agony and injustice,
The fire to rid of the hatred in which they drown.
And the freedom came with such a promise,
That couldn’t be endured by the southern caucasians.
So Hayes ended the era of Reconstruction,
And the blacks still faced an unfair obstruction.
The men cloaked in white with their torches,
And ashen crosses laid in the grass,
No matter what class.
On they fought,
For the rights they were told of.
For the nonviolent, ML King preached,
Ever so closely the rights were reached.
They were attacked for being rebellious peacefully,
But on they fought.
Mrs.Parks did a deed that was ever so inspiring,
so the protests against bus transportation transpired,
Discrimination ended on the buses for good,
The act ever so cleverly planned by NAACP.
On they fought, just like Thurgood,
Did for young Brown.
The schools were ordered to be brought together,
Although they knew of the blazing weather.
For the Nine that were in Little Rock,
It was so much more than a transfer.
But it was a distasteful stock,
yet on they fought.
Young men that were as gracious as any other man,
Were punished for being at a counter.
Killed by the Klan when they were set free.
For Malcolm changes,
And Medgar’s death,
They stood like a titanium post in an ever growing tornado.
They were waterboarded and beaten,
But they continued their march.
Their spirits couldn’t be broken,
Their voices so outspoken.
For the generosity of Jonathan Daniels,
Who gave his life for the protection of the children he watched,
On they fought!
The Freedom Rides were brave and in peace,
But the explosions of fire were what awaited.
Little Ruby and her northern teacher,
Were still learning through the terror,
Through all the errors,
On they fought.
And the three men arrested for fighting in the movement,
Never saw the day after they were released.
Wallace held his post for segregation,
But he couldn’t stop the integration.
LBJ finally ended the fight by setting forth his acts of justice.
Those three laws changed everything,
They could now rest their bloodied wings.
From the sirens that lasted decades,
It took such effort to get the deserved rights.
From the red lines to the bombing that killed four little girls,
Their calls of desperation were answered,
On the eve of a new generation.
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