Straight To My Soul Poem by Talile Ali

I've just watched the movie "12 years as a slave'
And it hurt me straight to my soul
To know the truth of this type of oppression and hate
Is to know a life never free to be whole

To wake each day to the knowledge that
You may at anytime be thrown in jail
Just because of the color of your skin
Tell me this ain't some kind of hell

My girl, who's white, can't even bare to view
Movies of Nazis, Racism and Sin
Imagine how hard it is for me to live every day
being so mistreated and abused by such men

I'm stopped by police almost everyday
And harassed by people for being black
I am ticketed, taxed, and blamed for every woe
And treated like some bad they can't take back

If I could afforded it I would leave this country
And live where I can be treated like a man
For I do not owe this nation a single oath of loyalty
For it has no place for me in it's plan

So you pledge your allegiance to what you will
I know where I will so pledge mine
To a nation that treats me as a human being
And not as some refuse from it's behind!