American Reckoning

America's on fire There's protests in the street Her conscience has been looted And her soul is under siege Another mother's crying As history repeats I can't breathe God damn those eight long minutes Lying face-down in cuffs on the ground Bystanders pleaded for mercy As one cop shoved a kid in the crowd When did a judge and a jury Become a badge and a knee On these streets? Stay alive, stay alive Shine a light, stay alive Use your voice and you remember me American reckoning I'll never know what it's like To walk a mile in his shoes And I'll never have to have the talk So it don't happen to you Three little words written 'cross the chest Of a twelve-year-old who hasn't lived life yet "Am I next?" "Am I next?" Stay alive, stay alive Shine a light, stay alive Use your voice and you remember me American reckoning Is this a moment or movement? Is this the tide or a flood? Is our American reckoning Our story written in blood? Or in love? Or in peace? Stay alive, stay alive Shine a light, stay alive Use your voice and you remember me Stay alive, stay alive Shine a light, stay alive Use your voice and you remember me American reckoning In our American reckoning --- American Reckoning - Bon Jovi