LYRIC FOR SALE

By Tamarack

What did you do when the fascists came
All those years ago?
When the nation was engulfed in shame
Laws and rights brought low
For you were there in that time of flame
Grandparents, you were there I know

When the felon Trump was president
Badged thugs attacked peaceful residents
Kidnapped kids from their schools and churches
Allowed to act on cruelest urges
When people were caged in your country’s name
What did you do when the fascists came?

When law and justice were swept aside
And folks grew numb to their leaders’ lies
Courts said “laws don’t count for presidents,
Go ahead, take bribes and build your fence”
When leaders could commit any crime
What did you do in that corrupt time?

When migrants died in filthy, crowded jails
And warehouses, habeas corpus failed,
Torturer guards beating people for fun
Holding mothers at the point of a gun
When ICE proved themselves a terrorist cell
What did you do when the bill of rights fell?

Teacher says voters made Trump’s crooks cower
So they tried to take the people’s power
They lied about fraud, said “however chains chafe,
Just always remember, we’re keeping you safe”
In moments like that people shouldn’t stand by
How’d you react to their cheating and lies?

When Wilber Garcés Perez was doing his job
And got taken and shot by the president’s mob
They took him from doctors and locked him away
A bullet still inside for day after day
And still in his office the president sat
What did you do in a country like that?

It must have been some awful time
Living under those fascist crimes
My friend called today, he called and he cried
His grandpa worked for ICE, there’s no cause for pride
What did you do when the fascists came?
If they came again would you do the same?
What did you do when a crook turned king?
Grandma, Grandpa,
What did you do, did you do anything?