Here Comes Change!

Here comes the sun Change, and I say:
It's all right...

The school released a statement Sunday evening from Missouri football Coach Gary Pinkel and Athletic Director Mack Rhoades confirming that no practice or football-related activities took place Sunday.
...
“Racism and intolerance have no place at the University of Missouri or anywhere in our state,” Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said in a statement Sunday. “Our colleges and universities must be havens of trust and understanding. These concerns must be addressed to ensure the University of Missouri is a place where all students can pursue their dreams in an environment of respect, tolerance and inclusion.”

A call for change has been mounting for several weeks, and the football team’s surprising protest gave the issue a much bigger platform.

“At this point, I think it is essential that the University of Missouri Board of Curators send a clear message to the students at Mizzou that there is an unqualified commitment to address racism on campus,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), an alum of both Missouri and its law school.
...
Missouri, which lost to Mississippi State on Thursday, did not have a game Saturday. The team has three more games scheduled, including a date against Brigham Young on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo., an evening contest set to be broadcast on the SEC Network. According to the Kansas City Star, the game contract calls for Missouri to pay BYU $1 million if the game is canceled.

Change will not come from the top.
It never does. Nevermind the law
professor pundits, the public officials,
the grant-paid people promising a fix.

Those types will not bring us Change,
they make their money and earn their
keep maintaining the status quo:
explaining to us WHY it is impossible,
now, to create the world we want to live in.

The people up top tell us WHY we can't have
what we need to live and to survive...
They are happy with the effluvia, the sillies,
not concerned with the suffering or the sorrows.

Today, the football team will lead.
A hunger strike is on; boycott participants show
no signs of backing down, to help the university
make money from their games... THIS is where
it begins: finally, a protest capable of hurting
the white people in power, what they care most about:
their pocketbooks!

(Politicians and professors take notice: THIS is
how Change happens. Courage and Solidarity united
around an important cause! Some of us went to law
school to learn these techniques -- we're still paying,
and one day, thanks to athletes and students like these,
we might just deserve to live in the world we have earned.)

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

~Langston Hughes