‘Scuze me, pardon me, if I may intrude

I’ve got a question to ask, hoping I could ask you

Seems like we’re falling apart

Is there nothing we can do?

Is this year gonna get better, or are we forever screwed?

In January, starting with the Australia fires

2020’s been draining us like a vampire

Though Australia’s a throwback, bet you forgot about it

Used to be all over the news, they’d scream it, they’d shout it

Now? Scroll a bit further down your feed, past murder hornets and the Bryants

You’ll find it between impeachment and WW3 

I’m wondering how long our country can continue

Shattered pieces of America fall out a broken window

If we follow this path, what will become of us?

Is this version of America the one that fades in darkness?

This pandemic made me question how America defines the word “free”

“Free” depends on your wealth, your status, your connections, 

Turns out that’s what determines your life satisfaction

Hard work, too, but that’s just one factor

Having money in your pocket will lift you up faster

‘Cuz single mothers working nights to support 2 kids

Pick food or heat in winter, one’s gotta skip

Bet the king of the company has better health benefits

See, the pandemic added 565 billion dollars to the pockets

Of American billionaires, to me it’s pretty shocking

Especially when the wealth gap is growing ‘stead of dropping 

Funny how the pandemic enforced the systemic

Covid infects all, but only some stay infected

Cuz while wealthy pockets pay for life-saving prescriptions

The poor can’t pay rent and then they get evicted

Now we’re dealing with Little Miss Covid-19

The monster that’s been making us hide in quarantine

If this was a horror movie, we’d all be yelling up at the screen

“Karen, you need a mask, not hy-droxy-chloro-quine!”

Why ignore instructions that’d result in reductions

Of American losses– 280 thousand gone already

While we wait for the end, cases rise, nice and steady

Some states won’t shut down, living their lives, mellow

Meanwhile, I’ll never again see mi abuelo

It’s not just the dead, some get hospitalized, others get strokes

And yet, some would look me in the eye and tell me it’s a hoax

Cutting holes in their masks, crying when not let into stores

Quarantine would already be over if we all just stayed indoors

Shows how little some people value facts

Stayed away & won’t listen, 

The wrong kind of social distance

Only taking it seriously once the crisis was here

Once we were out of toilet paper, then everyone’s heart were full of fear

Now we got presidential puppets prying into the CDC

Sending the data to the office, not the people directly

This president’s made it evident he doesn’t care about the public 

As he gets tested daily, unemployment is still doubling

Plus, job losses hit black Americans harder than most

But we solved that, right? With our black Instagram posts?

RIP to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery

“Put your hands up on the count of three!”

“One!” Bang! Bang! Bang!

Didn’t even get to three–

But, officer, he cannot breathe

Oh? 

So he’s still a threat, that’s still how he’s seen

No matter that Trayvon was only seventeen

As black babies are gunned down by men who will not be accountable

Cries of “They’re all looters!” and “Respect authority” drown ‘em out

Now this got me thinking about the protests 

Wait, now I think I know less

‘Cause so many people who said they were for equality

Suddenly don’t want no rioting 

Ma’am, you can keep pledging to your flag, 

But please, learn the history

This country was built on the backs of the people you look down on

Your hate slithering around like a python

Meanwhile, the colonial patriots you look up to were much more dangerous

They’d tar & feather British loyalists as mob vengeance

See, America’s always been fueled by change and resistance 

We tried making peace with the British, they didn’t listen

So we picked up our pistols and fought for our existence

That’s why I want to thank Virus Covid-19

For exposing the inequalities tearing us at the seams

From BLM to ignorance to wealth inequality

We’re opening our eyes to what Covid finally helped us see

My message is to not let 2020 give us PTSD

Cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Will lead to Post Traumatic Self Destruction

Let’s construct a nation worth fighting for

Worth dying for 

Most importantly, worth standing for

These past few months could be the ones 

That were emotionally evocative, mentally provocative

So before the memory of this year fades 

And only exists in human kind’s history books ‘bout past decades

Let’s take what we’ve learned, from this year and the past

Let’s work together to make an America that can last

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