Inner city plea (Poem)

Save the whale and the spotted owl
Save the rain forests and the ecology
But who's concerned about saving me
Save the oil, the gas and the gold
But what about us
Haven't we suffered enough?
Save a toea - save a kina
While our next generation is doing time

Save a country that is my own
Save a thief at a savings and loan
Save enough to accumulate more wealth
But what about the people in the streets
Don't care enough to save our race?
We're not asking for handouts anymore
Because with this statement
We are declaring a political and
conscious raising economic war -
Actions speak louder than words
So act now to our inner city plea
Because if you act too late
No telling what you may see

You've seen the riots, the fires, rapes,
and the floods
Now what are you going to do?
Because the same troubled waters
that surround us now
Will also drown you.

-By David Ketepa Ulg