Whose Moral Values?

A poem by Wynell Verrett-Butler, a Funding IL’s Future coalition member 

Whose moral values put our youth in harm’s way? 

Whose moral values let them get gunned down then turn their heads and walk away? 

Whose moral values allow illiteracy and starvation to prevail? 

And whose moral values let our education system fail? 

Whose moral values said, “build the jails, they don’t need schools”? 

And whose moral values set our youth up for failure, then turn around and call them fools? 

Whose moral values says no when it comes to our health? 

And whose moral values judge us by our zip code and family wealth? 

Whose moral values turn a deaf ear to their neighbors’ pain? 

And whose moral value is the first to say, “I’m so glad it ain’t my fault”, then point a finger at someone else to blame? 

But whose moral values will eventually say, “Let’s walk together across these lines that divide us and take a stand”? 

Whose moral values will have the guts to stand up and say, “enough is enough” and restore justice in this land?

Read the story of Wynell Verrett-Butler’s fight for a fair education system here.