The Mitchell Case

I see by the papers
Where Mitchell’s won his case.
Down South the railroads now
Must give us equal space.
Even if we’re rich enough
To want a Pullman car,
The Supreme Court says we get it—
And a diner and a bar!
Now since the Court in Washington
Can make a rule like that,
If we went to court enough we might
Get Jim Crow on the mat
And pin his shoulders to the ground
And drive him from the land—
Since the Constitution ain’t enough—
To protect a colored man—
And we have to go to court to make
The crackers understand.
But for poor people
It’s kinder hard to sue.
Mr. Mitchell, you did right well—
But the rest of us ain’t you.
Seems to me it would be simpler
If the Government would declare
They’re tired of all this Jim Crow stuff
And just give it the air.
Seems to me it’s time to realize
That in the U.S.A.
To have Jim Crow’s too Hitler-like
In this modern age and day—
Cause fine speeches sure sound hollow
About Democracy
When all over America,
They still Jim Crowing ine.
To earn a dollar sometimes
Is hard enough to do—
Let alone having to take that dollar
To go and suc!