Haiti (feat. Gilberto Gil)

When you are invited to climb the steps of the foundation
House of Jorge Amado
To see from above the line of soldiers, almost all black
Beating the necks of black scoundrels
Of mulatto thieves and others almost white
Treated as black
Just to show the almost black others
(And they are almost all black)
How blacks, poor and mulattos
And almost whites, almost black from being so poor are treated
And it doesn't matter if the eyes of the whole world
May be momentarily turned to the square
Where the slaves were punished
And today a drumming, a drumming
With the purity of high school uniformed boys
On parade day
And the epic grandeur of a people in formation
Attracts us, dazzles us, and stimulates
It doesn't matter at all
Not the trace 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 Pelourinho party, and if you don't go

Think about Haiti
Pray for Haiti
Haiti is here
Haiti is not here

And on TV if you see a panicked congressman
Poorly disguised
In front of any, but any, any, any
Education plan that seems easy
That seems easy and fast
And represents a threat to the democratization
Of elementary education
And if that same congressman advocates for 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 the usual red light
Notice a man urinating on the corner of the street on a shiny
Trash bag
In Leblon
And when you hear the smiling silence of São Paulo
In the face of the massacre
111 defenseless prisoners, but almost all are black
Or almost black, or almost whites almost black from being so poor
And poor are like rotten and everyone knows how blacks are treated
And when you take a walk in the Caribbean
And when you have sex without a condom
And present your intelligent participation in the blockade of Cuba

Think about Haiti
Pray for Haiti
Haiti is here
Haiti is not here