Plantation toil, penitentiary moil,
Where slavery ends
The Prison Industrial Complex begins
Check your history
1863 to the 21st century
Wanton misery, no mystery,
Statistics quite frightening
Fraught with disparity...
African Americans constitute 12 percent of the nation,
50 percent of the prison population.
That’s mass incarceration
Modern day enslavement
Casting a wide net
Landing a big catch:
The poor, the black, the innocent..
Forever strange fruit
Courtrooms abound with black youth
Legal lynching ensues
The gavel is a noose
Freedom dismissed
American justice amiss
School to prison pipeline
Lucrative slave ship...
Dred Scott was the genesis
The aftermath stupendous
Millions of lost souls
Prison, probation, parole
Civil liberties on hold
Democracy untold
A dream deferred
Martin’s nightmare has emerged...
A better world is possible
Prison abolition is logical
Society holds the key
Time to manifest some destiny
Organize, mobilize,
Act in solidarity
Accomplish the feat
Starve the belly of the beast.
Write to:
Tim Young #F23374
4 EY-23
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974