My father was born a slave in 1854, he died in 1941 passing on a dream

His oldest son was hanged in 1936 in Georgia for refusing to work overtime

And, for standing up for his rights

In 1955 a racist white man slit my brothers throat in a hospital in West-Virginia where he worked

He was never charged

In 1969 I was hit at the left eye in Dayton Ohio with a beer bottle by a racist white group

I was blind for over a year

In 1971 I was refused medical treatment for 3rd degree burns

And, not allowed in a hospital in Alexandria Virginia because of the color of my skin

In 1998 my nephew’s neck was broken by the police in Bluefield West Virginia

It paralyzed him from his neck down he was only 18 years old

The police were never charged

My father died in 1965 hoping his children’s life would be better than his

We are tired of singing the songs “We shall overcome”

We are tired of the “I forgive you”

We are tired of the “Injustice”

We want justice now!

This is a Wake-Up call America, this is a Wake-Up call!

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

To understand the black man’s fight, you must first take a look at the black man’s plight

To understand our state of mind, turn the pages of history and there you’ll find

That this land of the free and home of the brave is where you brought us

And made us your slave and freedom was a dream, that we took to our grave

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

At some point you said we were free, but this has never been our reality

In your sweet land of liberty, this applied to you but not to me, we’re still waiting, to be set free

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

We salute your flag, but for us it’s a lie, we died for this country, somebody tell me why

In this country of free and equality we’ve been treated like we we’re the enemy

It’s a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

What we’ve been enduring is hard to define we have a permanent scar in our hearts and mind

But through it all we still stand tall and we refuse to give up and we refuse to fall

It’s a wake-up call

We never be silent we will remain outspoken we’re a symbol of endurance and we’ll never be broken

Our ancestors died passing on the dream that one day we will be free as impossible as it seemed

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

We’ve held on to our dreams when all seemed lost, freedom for us has been a very high cost

Things has changed new laws have been passed, but in the race for equality we still come in last

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

You have no clue what it’s like, having the color of my skin

Because a journey into my world is a place you’ve never been

If you we’re born white you are born free, you’ll never know what it’s like to be black like me

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

This is a wake-up call America, this is a wake-up call

This is a brand-new day, pay attention to what I say

This is wake-up call, this is a wake-up call