This is an offering of gratitude to Dr. King's legacy, as well as a cry for hope.
LYRICS:
Dear Dr. Martin,
Thank you for the revolution that you started
Thank you for the territory that you charted,
Thank you for the light you brought the broken-hearted,
But though you served up justice on a platter
It’s difficult believing Black lives matter,
When I’m still seeing Black lives scattered,
When I saw Ms. Breonna’s life shattered
in her own living room watching TV,
And the people cried out, “Do you see me?”
And Mr. George’s breath stopped flowing easy,
Dr. King, can we ever stop the bleeding?
It’s not like us to give up on a dream,
But dreams hurt when they're rattled by a scheme,
And folks bail who you thought was on the team,
And the visionary house is rotted at the beams.
CHORUS:
Dr. Martin, they told you to wait
Equal rights, they told you to wait,
To lift burdens, they told you to wait,
But the march for Black life won’t wait.
Dr. King, you were never one to wait,
Every victory you took time to celebrate,
But the battle presses on to the holy gates,
The fierce urgency of now brings us to our fate.
I’m a pray, I’m a think, I’m a meditate,
On this soul force love- I’m a contemplate,
‘Cause I’m wishing on a mission to be kissing
Justice and peace on a clear summer day.
Hope never dies
Just as a long as anybody ever tries
Keep breaking down walls, never satisfied
til the next generation see a better life
til a mother ain’t scared to sing a lullaby
in the tears and the fears of a bitter night
while the castles get built on the other side
Keep leveling the field, yeah we better try.
I could see it in the gleam in the eyes of the King
With his blood earnest call to let freedom ring.
I could hear it in the song that the caged bird sings
to let justice roll to every living thing.
Yes love calls us to patient,
But neighborhoods still got segregation
And math lanes still got separation,
And black and brown lives overly incarcerated
CHORUS:
Dr. Martin, they told you to wait
Equal rights, they told you to wait,
To lift burdens, they told you to wait,
But the march for Black life won’t wait.
As you pulled into Montgomery bus station,
You called out to a white supremacist nation,
“Who's ready for some real education?
Come and get a dose of antiracist medication."
And as we sit and remember all your great deeds,
We acknowledge that your words are what we all need,
But you died because part of your purpose,
Was to make the powerful white man nervous.
All this pain that I’m harboring,
‘Cause vigilantes struck Mr. Arbery,
I can channel to a dream, cause it’s understood
That you never gave up on the hope of brotherhood.
Keep moving, just keep moving,
How’d you find resources to be soothing,
hearts in a hurricane of long-shot goals
signed on a letterhead, shatter that mold.
Injustice so systemic,
A highly visible race pandemic
With love, apply that pressure
Dr. King, give us your treasure
I’ll purchase that dream that you're selling me
But it’s a clear soft voice that is telling me,
If I don’t recognize what’s implicit,
Then I’m simply complicit.
CHORUS:
Dr. Martin, they told you to wait
Equal rights, they told you to wait,
To lift burdens, they told you to wait,
But the march for Black life won’t wait.