Race in your Face

Prophet Bob sayeth:

Until the philosophy which holds one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there is no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

Scene: A party in suburban Maryland on a scorching hot day. I wander to the keg for some beerish relief. A woman, late 30s or early 40s, with a pierced tongue and tattoos, is talking Mideast politics. So naturally my ears perk up. Foam flows from the tap.

Woman: I think we should just bomb them all. Kill all of 'em [i.e. Muslims, Iraqis, brown-skinned occupants of the Mideast -- aka THEM).

Me: Really? All the women? Kids? Babies?

Woman: Those kids are gonna grow up to be just like their parents. The kids will be the ones to fly airplanes into our buildings. Fuck 'em.

Me: Hmm. Don't you think most of the people over there just want to live happy lives? You know, just make a decent living, raise their kids, live peacefully?

Woman: Not those people.

Me: Well, I can't condone killing innocent people to get rid of a few violent crazies. I couldn't point a gun at a two-year old and pull the trigger. And after all, every time we kill an innocent person we create more enemies.

Woman: I'd like to live in a perfect world, but we don't.

Me: So thousands of innocent people dying is okay? Just to get a few bad guys?

Woman (growing agitated): Most of them ain't innocent. Look at all the shit going on over there.

Me (trying in vain to elicit a shred of human compassion): Well, damn. I live in Baltimore. There are some terrible neighborhoods where people get murdered all the time. I guess some people would say it's okay to bomb Baltimore?

Woman: That's not a bad idea.

Exit me.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

I wish I could be as confident as Bob.