Lyrics

(This song was written from the imagined perspective of a Mexican-American mother to her ICE Agent son.)


Forgetful Son
By Lulis Leal

My son, how quickly you forget the tales I told,
Of Abuelo crossing rivers, cold and bold.
He bled through deserts, risked his life for the dream,
To build a future where your children could gleam.
Abuela’s hands calloused from fields far away,
She fled the shadows, prayed for a brighter day.
They gave you this land, no chains on your feet,
But now you cage others, repeat the defeat.

How quickly you forget, you ungrateful son,
Citizenship dropped in your lap like a loaded gun.
No blood on your hands for the papers you wave,
Just their broken backs, you now spit on their graves.
You strut in that ICE uniform, smug and severe,
A traitor to their sacrifice, drowning in fear.
The dream they died for, you trample today
How quickly you forget your own name.

You wear that badge high, like a crown undeserved,
Forgetting the hunger your grandparents braved.
They crossed for your children, for a life without fear,
Yet you tear families down, year after year.
The privilege you flaunt, born from their weary flight,
Turns to a weapon in the dead of the night.
My heart breaks to see what you’ve become in this fight
A stranger to mercy, lost in the right.

How quickly you forget, you ungrateful son,
Citizenship dropped in your lap like a loaded gun.
No blood on your hands for the papers you wave,
Just their broken backs, you now spit on their graves.
You strut in that ICE uniform, smug and severe,
A traitor to their sacrifice, drowning in fear.
The dream they died for, you trample today
How quickly you forget your own name.

My son, the reckoning is coming, it cannot be denied,
The conscience you silenced will no longer hide.
The Giant is rising, with unyielding might,
To shatter the cruelty you defend every night.
No badge will shield you, no lie will endure
The Giant is rising, and justice is sure.