How Did They Let This Happen?

“History does not sleep. Future generations will look back and ask, ‘How did they let this happen?’ It is past the time for the American people to start preparing their answers.” (Chauncey DeVega, Salon)

“How did they let this happen” is
    A question hard to answer;
A lot of ground prepared for this
    Conditioning of cancer.

For many years they did not heed
    Their poets nor their prophets,
Let toys routine upkeep impede
    Pooh-poohed the leaky soffits,

As water damage over time
    Seeped into the foundations,
As their neglect became a crime,
    Subversion all a nation’s.

First little lies allowed to pass
    Nobody cared to mention,
At first a small chip in the glass
    No matter for contention— 

But self-deceit and willful fraud
    Caught up, anarchy loosed,
Or (Malcolm said it, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd)
    Chickens came home to roost:

The early sin of slavery
    Concealed ten thousand ways
Induced in men a knavery
    Too active for malaise.

At last the rotting damage done
    The structure stood awhile,
Then suddenly, in unison,
    The parts collapsed freestyle.