Bon Jovi American Reckoning Lyrics

America's on fire
There's protests in the street
Her conscience has been looted
And her soul is under a siege
Another mother's crying as history repeats
I can't breathe

God damn those 8 long minutes
Laying face down in cuffs on the ground
Bystanders pleaded for mercy
As one cop shoved a kid in the crowd
When did a judge and a jury
Become a badge and a knee
On these streets

Stay alive, stay alive
Shine a light, stay alive
Use your voice and you remember me
American reckoning

I'll never know what it's like
To walk a mile in his shoes
And I'll never have to have the talk
So it don't happen to you Three little words written across the chest
Of a 12-year-old who hasn't lived life yet
Am I next
Am I next

Stay alive, stay alive
Shine a light, stay alive
Use your voice and you remember me
American reckoning

Is this a moment or movement
Is this the tide or a flood
Is our American reckoning
Our story written in blood
Or in love
Or in peace

Stay alive, stay alive
Shine a light, stay alive
Use your voice and you remember me

Stay alive, stay alive
Shine a light, stay alive
Use your voice and you remember me
American reckoning
In our American reckoning