David Rovics - Benton Harbor lyrics

What if you were born there And you knew how things used to be Watching your father come home each day From the factory What if you had seen the ships come in And you thought it might always be that way And what if you watched that all disappear When you awoke one day What if you knew where your landlord lived On the other side of the river In the resort town where you clean the floors Would you feel your lips quiver What if it was your brother who had the nerve To date a white man's daughter What if you found him with rope marks on his neck Lying in the water What if you'd been in prison for ten years of your life For the crime of being black and poor What if every time opportunity knocked It was a policeman at your door What if no one you knew had ever been to college But everyone had been to jail What if you knew those d** were planted by the cops Could you feel the cold steel rail What if it was yesterday and you were there And you saw the high-speed chase And you watched the cop car hit him, saw him fall Saw the look upon his face What if you were a witness and you watched the cops Kick him in the head What if he was your friend and you knew him well And you watched him lying dead What if you had a wake and right there You could hear the sirens' blare What if they called you criminals and yelled into their bullhorns While you were blinded by the floodlight's glare What if someone lit a match and the wind blew the flame At the abandoned foundry Hours from the dawn in the darkness of the night Through the fire what could you see What if you were in Benton Harbor On those hot nights in June Would you have joined your neighbors in the burning of the cop cars Beneath the summer moon What if you were a city that has been abandoned Would you just crumple beneath the load Would you die in silence Or might you just explode