From the recording Singles
A friend asked "Privilege? What privilege have I ever had?" No doubt, she'd had a hard life. Poverty, family problems, and a hard job since she was a teenager. This song ponders her tough question. Maybe the answer is less about an individual's relative hardships and more about restoring community.
I really wanted to tell this as a gritty story. A poignant narrative, not an abstract treatise. Piercing insight. Solutions. In all those things, I failed. Nevertheless, the lyrics still challenge me. Here's to the the balance of justice and prosperity.
Lyrics
You labored to climb up against all the odds
From poverty’s pit with no help but God's
And nothing for leverage but hunger and grit
Made a life for your family, and keep them close knit
You treat people nice whenever you meet em
So what's with the lectures from us liberal leaning
As if you were given an unfair advantage?
We don’t know the hard times that you barely managed
It's not about you and it's not about me
But whether we'll strengthen society
So how bout we focus our energy
On the balance of justice and prosperity?
There's lifetimes of red lines and traffic stop violence
We can't look away complicit in silence
You've been through the ringer and dealt with the danger
So you understand the frustration and anger
Of course no one's saying that all lives don't matter
But now is the time to shine light on the patterns
That stagger the spirit from schoolyard suspicion
To underemployed and overimprisoned
It's not about you and it's not about me
But whether we'll strengthen society
So how bout we focus our energy
On the balance of justice and prosperity?
Let's quit showing up for news-cycle wars
Let's make all our movements to heal and restore
Leverage our liberty, spread it around
To neighbors with less where abundance abounds
A shift in perspective might clear up confusion
Sure, everyone suffers a share of abusing
But four hundred years of defining your race
Ain't likely among all the trials you faced
I guess it’s my privilege to not understand
If I wasn't dealt the winningest hand
The lash of the law like a fistful of fear
Ain’t slapped on my face in the tracks of my tears
It's not about you and it's not about me
But whether we'll strengthen society
So how bout we focus our energy
On the balance of justice and prosperity?
(c) Dave Nealon
Written November 16, 2020; January 22, 2021; January 15, 2022