Haiti (part. Gilberto Gil)

When you're invited to step up to the foundation's courtyard
House of Jorge Amado
To see from above the line of soldiers, almost all Black
Beating down on Black hustlers
On mulatto thieves and others almost white
Treated like Black
Just to show the others who are almost Black
(And they’re almost all Black)
And to the almost poor whites like Blacks
How Black, poor, and mulatto folks
And almost white, almost Black from being so poor are treated
And it doesn’t matter if the eyes of the whole world
Are for a moment turned to the square
Where slaves were punished
And today it’s a beat, a beat
With the purity of school kids in uniforms
On parade day
And the epic greatness of a people in formation
Attracts us, dazzles us, and inspires us
Nothing matters
Not the outline of the mansion
Not the lens of the fantastic
Not Paul Simon's record
No one, no one is a citizen
If you go to the pelô party, and if you don’t go

Think of Haiti
Pray for Haiti
Haiti is here
Haiti is not here

And on TV if you see a panicking congressman
Poorly disguised
In front of any, but any, any, any
Education plan that seems easy
That seems easy and quick
And threatens to democratize
Elementary education
And if that same congressman supports the adoption
Of the death penalty
And the venerable cardinal says he sees so much spirit in the fetus
And none in the criminal
And if, when running a red light, the old usual red light
You notice a man pissing on the corner of the street over a bag
Shiny with trash
From Leblon
And when you hear the smiling silence of São Paulo
In the face of the massacre
111 defenseless prisoners, but prisoners are almost all Black
Or almost Black, or almost white almost Black from being so poor
And poor folks are like rotten and everyone knows how to treat Black folks
And when you take a trip around the Caribbean
And when you’re hooking up without a condom
And showing off your smart participation in the blockade against Cuba

Think of Haiti
Pray for Haiti
Haiti is here
Haiti is not here