47 Percent...
47 percent
by Stewart Acuff
All of us on this bus
Momma and Dad and Sister Julia – with
Kushing’s Syndrome – that took her to Mayo’s
Before it killed her and took part of all
Our souls
And just me with college loans from the government
And washing dishes – state paid that you
Know – and unemployment between gigs
Just a worthless 47 percenter
Not just us on this bus
Those 19 and 26 year olds who left legs and
Arms and parts of scalps in Iraq and
Afghanistan trying to learn to walk again and
Think without pain and fear and confusion
How can they be 47 percenters, Mr. Romney?
In your house on the hill
See, it ain’t just us
It’s generations of us climbing from the dirt
Up and building America while we scraped
And hurt and died creating TVA and REA and
The highway system and railroads – lots of
Us like John Henry broke our hearts for
America and water systems and sewer
systems. Hey Mitt with your soft hands and
Perfect hair and walk you learned in prep
school, you ever been in the main line of a
sewer system with a shovel and firehose
unclogging the toilets and drains of a whole
city with a rope around your waist in case
the methane overcomes you? No?
That’s just for us sorry 47 percenters.
And Romney’s personal victims at Bain
Capital where he destroyed jobs and families
And part of people’s souls.
http://stewartacuff.com/47-percent/
Stewart Acuff is America’s best-known and foremost labor organizer. He is the former organizing Director of the AFL-CIO. Acuff has also written two books: Playing Bigger Than You Are: A Life in Organizing, and Getting America Back to Work, coauthored by Dr. Richard Levins.
