Weston,+Marna

Marna Weston (coached by Dale McCall at Twin Lakes High, WPB, FL) State Champion, Lincoln Douglas Debate & NFL District Champion, Policy Debate (Florida) CEDA Octofinalist

I **JUSTICE AND JIVE**

**(A History Poem of American Justice)** > Justice wasn't in America's plan when they took away the Indian Nation's land,

> Like the Arapahoe, the Apache, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Navajo and many more.

> Was it a just plan when you banished them to an isolated land

> And infected them with smallpox and hives, you just knew that they wouldn't survive

> These injustices can never be justified,

> You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive.Where was Justice when slavery abounded,

> Perhaps she was helping Old Master keep Swobo's nose to the ground.

> They took away his children, his culture, his language and his identity

> but they could not take his dignity.

> Madame Justice, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.

> You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive. > Justice was nowhere around when all of the lynchings were going down.

> The Klan strung us up and didn't try to hide

> Because they knew that Justice wasn't on our side,

> When Billie Holliday sang "Strange Fruit," she was singing about dead bodies hanging from a poplar tree.

> She could have been singing about you or me.

> She knew that justice would never preside,

> You call it Justice but Billie called it Jive. > Justice comes with a dollar sign although justice is supposed to be blind.

> I can't buy Justice and pay my rent. I make minimum wage with no benefits.

> It seems to me that Justice is only for the rich.

> If you don't have money Justice will be denied.

> You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive. > If Justice is really color blind then why are so many black and brown brothers doing time?

> You lock them up on some homemade facts but that was always your plan of attack.

> Langston Hughes once said that justice is a blind goddess to whom we blacks are wise,

> Her bandage covers two festering sores that once perhaps were eyes.

> You call it Justice but Langston called it Jive. > Madame Justice must be really tired.

> She's permitting the cops to do black profiles,

> they watch us and stop us for no good reason.

> We feel like sitting ducks during hunting season.

> It's about time for Justice to be on our side.

> You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive. > Mr. President, if Justice was really intact, then why did you create the Patriot Act?

> Your homeland security is an injustice in disguise

> but Mr. Bush, unlike Justice, we're not blind. We all have eyes.

> You call it justice but it's just another word for Jive. > Now Mrs. Bush, Justice had to have been deaf, mute and blind

> when you helped create No Child Left Behind.

> You're setting children up for a great big fall.

> Mrs. Bush, an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

> Justice should be on the children's side.

> You call it Justice, but even the children know it's Jive. > Where was Justice when Katrina went down?

> Perhaps she was hiding out with the FEMA director, that incompetent Michael Brown.

> The people at the Superdome sent up a prayer in hopes that FEMA

> would soon be there but Bush and Brown really didn't care.

> They wished that they all had just floated away while they plotted and

> lied and created an inexcusable delay, but someone once said that

> Justice delayed is Justice denied. > You call it Justice, but we can all recognize Jive.