I was inspired by this MusicBanter thread (
http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...ml#post1559119 ) to write the following song about the policeman's shooting of Michael Brown and the riots that followed in Ferguson, Missouri, as people assumed the killing was unprovoked and completely unjust.
Now all I have to do is become a mainstream pop star and Soulflower's concerns about apathy will be allayed!
* * *
Don't Jump The Gun by Erica
Are you trigger happy?
Are you judge and jury?
Do you see the worst, expecting a fight?
What justifies blood spilling?
What justifies a killing?
Does it matter if someone is dark or light?
Do you use ethnicity to gauge innocence?
Do you form conclusions without full evidence?
Do you jerk your knees deciding who is wrong or right?
Do you create a case of black or Brown or white?
Well, don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't think a race should be over before it's run.
Don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't try to win a battle before it's begun.
Do you believe a man is guilty
'til he's proven innocent?
Do you shoot first and ask questions
only when he's dead on the pavement?
Do you believe an officer should let
someone steal his gun,
when he could kill the law
and go on a rampage while on the run?
Do you see murder in an act of self-defense?
Do you feel riots are a reasonable consequence?
Do you jerk your knees deciding who is wrong or right?
Do you create a case of black or Brown or white?
Well don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't think a race should be over before it's run.
Don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't take actions that can never be undone.
Democracy defiling racial profiling
makes the melting pot simmer.
If you turn up the flame,
who is to blame if the kettle boils over?
When peacekeepers packing heat
meet black men walking in the street,
they should treat them with respect,
a part of the public to protect.
Yet that street goes both ways
and violence rarely pays.
If you lunge at the police,
you are a danger to the peace.
So don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't think a race should be over before it's run.
Don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't try to win a battle before it's begun.
Don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't think a race should be over before it's run.
Don't jump the gun, don't jump the gun.
Don't take actions that can never be undone.
Don't jump the...
Do you think a race should be over before it's...
Don't jump the...
Do you try to win a battle before it's...
Don't jump the...
Do you take actions that can never be...
Don't jump the...
Do you set to kill instead of stun?
Well, don't jump the...
Do you think a race should be over before it's...
Don't jump the...
Do you try to win a battle before it's...
Don't jump the...
Do you take actions that can never be...
Don't jump the...
Do you set to kill instead of stun?
Well, don't jump the . . . [snare rimshot]