ELECTION 2008

For miles around
as far as the eye
could see
they came
they came to vote
they came to bear witness
they came to make history

I was there too
we were going to elect
the nation’s first
African American President
Barack Hussein Obama
Destiny’s child
thrust up by the forces of
Fate and History
a once in a generation man
to stem the tide
to hold back
the financial avalanche
caused by greedy evil men
in powerful places
whose motto was
let the public be damned!

They came and waited patiently
in lines that stretched around the block
to vote for the man
who promised
Hope and Change

We are the generation
that we have been waiting for!
The Time for Change has Come!
We have come too far to turn back now!
Keep Hope Alive!

Mothers
Fathers
Children
Many with their
babies in their arms
waiting their turn
their golden chance
their sterling opportunity
to elect America’s
First Black President

It wasn’t for McCain
that they stood shivering
in the rain
It was Barack Obama who
was the cause of all that drama
It was Barack Hussein Obama
and it will be so again!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012

Fuggedaboutit!

Bada bing
bada boom
bada bing bang boom
bada boom bang bing
bada bing
bada boom!

Fuggedaboutit!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012

The Days Of Awe

The days of awe
just ain’t
what they used to be
ain’t what they used to be
ain’t what they used to be
the days of awe
just ain’t
what they used to be
and neither is
the golden rule

good evening friends!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012

Ever Have The Feeling

Ever have the feeling
that there is something else
that you should be doing
that you are not doing
but that really
needs to be done
and you can't
for the life of you
figure out what
that something is?
I've had that feeling
for quite some time now.

It is very bothersome!
Like a dull aching tooth
Like a pesky mosquito
that keeps buzzing
around my ear
no matter how many times
I try to swat it away
I wonder what that
disquieting something
might be?
Brother!
Or as
Winnie the Pooh
might say
Oh bother!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012

Homage To Rosa Parks

Homage To Rosa Parks
(RIP - February 4, 1913,- October 24, 2005)

On December 1, 1955
in Montgomery, Alabama
(The cradle of the Confederacy)
Rosa Parks refused to obey
bus driver James F. Blake’s order
that she give up her seat on the bus
to make way for a white passenger
after the white section was filled
Rosa was arrested
As she was being taken away
she made a fateful vow
From this day forward
I will not get back on the bus
Until Jim Crow gets off!

Rosa’s act of defiance
and the ensuing
Montgomery Bus Boycott
became important symbols
of the modern
Civil Rights Movement

Rosa became an international icon
of resistance to racial segregation
She organized and collaborated
with local and national
civil rights leaders like
Edgar Nixon
President of the local chapter
of the NAACP and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
a new minister in town who
gained national prominence
in the civil rights movement

I will not get back on the bus
Until Jim Crow gets off!

The bus boycott lasted 381 days
Dozens of public buses stood idle for months
as thousands of the black residents of Montgomery
walked at considerable personal sacrifice
rather than get back on the bus

After the bus transit company
suffered enough financial loss
to cry uncle
the city of Montgomery repealed
the Jim Crow law that required
segregation on public buses
(Eventually the US Supreme Court
ruled that such segregation was
unconstitutional)
In the end
the Black residents of Montgomery won
and Jim Crow was forced off the bus!

God bless you Rosa Parks!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012