"Liberty Needs Glasses"

The Rose That Grew From Concrete is the title of a collection of poems written by Tupac Shakur. The collection was developed into a book as seen in this picture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_That_Grew_from_Concrete_(book)

This poem is titled "Liberty Needs Glasses". In this poem Tupac is criticizing the justice system of America and the "liberty" that this country has presented throughout the years. In the first line Tupac addresses and heaps the majority of responsibility Lady Liberty because she is one of America's most recognized symbols and statues that is a tourist sight which is suppose to represent freedom from oppression. This is effective to me because if you want to discuss a major issue then why not connect it with something that your audience can relate to and easily understand without you having to explain why you made that specific connection. He also gives justice the title of Mrs. and calls her Mrs.Justice. This makes it easier for him to display personification in his poem by converting them into women and this continues when he says that they both need glasses. Tupac claims that the two of them need glasses because they are blind to the fact that America, in his eyes, has not done a good job at being just and fair in their judicial system and if they do think that America in fact has done a good job at this then they obviously need glasses. In this line he also refers to Lady Liberty and Mrs.Justice as "broads". This derogatory word is a further indication of Tupac's dislike toward the two ideals in America, just like his previous statement of calling them blind as bats. He is also accusing the two ladies of stumbling through the system because of their blindness. If they were able to see the unjust of this society or this countries inability to understand its' own people, then they would not be blind and they would be able to fix the system and correct the wrongs in this country. Tupac then goes on to give minor examples on the unjust and unfair behavior that he has witnessed in his life. He explains how two of his family members were treated wrong by the system, Mutulu and Geronimo Pratt. He then gives an example how America and its system likes to turn a blind eye to trouble when he speaks about Oliver and Ronnie. (Now in full honestly, I have no idea what these two men did and I researched it to no avail. I assume that they were criminals and got acquitted in court.)

He briefly spoke on how justice wronged Nelson Mandela and how liberty treated the Native Americans who were here before us. Tupac concludes that if people as a whole were more brave and willing to stand up to this injustice then the world would be a better place. He harps back to calling the two women blind because they do not see that the law is not the same for everybody and that is a problem.