Riot# - late 1960's

Come, you people, and see.
Come you rich
And all that have enough.
Come and see
Where the poor are.
Look at the breeding ground
Of anger and frustration.
Come and see
Poverty at its worst.
The people are crowded
Thousands in a small space.
The rats, huge and bold,
Walk across your feet
And sleep with the children.
No place to play,
No place to sleep,
Person piled on top of person
Up to the sky.
Impossible you say?
Where?  You ask.
Look at the cities -
Harlem, Watts, Chicago -
All the large cities -
New York, Los Angeles, Detroit.
This is where riots are born
In the slums of Cleveland and Newark
Where men and women
Have no chance to live,
No chance to work
And little happiness;
And anger boils out
And frustration takes its toll.
For many are unskilled
And jobs are hard to find.
Go down to the slums and see;
Be one of them for a day, a week,
And know what frustration is like,
And why all the angry people
Erupt in violence.
1967