Kristallnacht Is Coming

I worked with Katya at the factory
She always did her job OK, as far as I could see
Lunchtime one day, she got nostalgic for her youth
Growing up in wartime under a different truth
F  C / G  C :// as needed
She told me "When I was a girl, I loved a soldier in the SS
They only picked the strongest ones, the healthiest, the best
They weren't monsters, they were like your Green Berets
We never wanted to kill Jews, we just wanted them away
And you know we gave them lots of time until Kristallnacht sealed their fate
We only wanted them to emigrate."

We'll give each Californian a plastic picture card
If you don't have your papers, kid, well, life is hard
The Pass Laws have arrived here in America at last
You used to get a meal in school, but that's the past
Just take your chances in the street, but do it out of sight
We know you'll get along until your Crystal Night
Your teacher has to turn you in, she doesn't really hate
We only wanted you to emigrate.

Kristallnacht is coming, little Mexican child
The night of breaking glass, the night of running wild
Run sick & in the streets until Kristallnacht seals your fate
We only wanted you to emigrate.

Until we send the troopers in, we'll give you lots of time
To get your life in order and forsake your little crimes
You're better off in Mexico, although you grew up here
And if your folks won't take you back, there's this to fear.
Alone and in an alley, your Breaking Glass will come
It won't get in the papers if we do it one by one
It's all about the Bottom Line, it isn't really hate
We only wanted you to emigrate.

Kristallnacht is coming, Salvadorian child
The night of breaking glass, the night of running wild
Run sick & in the streets until Kristallnacht seals your fate
We only wanted you to emigrate.

Kristallnacht is coming, Guatemalan child
The night of breaking glass, the night of running wild
Run sick & in the streets until Kristallnacht seals your fate
We only wanted you to emigrate.
words & music by Bob Franke. (c) Telephone Pole Music Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

On his 1995 "The Heart of the Flower" CD.

California Proposition 187 (also known as the Save Our State (SOS) initiative) was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal aliens from using non-emergency health care, public education, and other services in the State of California. Voters passed the proposed law at a referendum in November 1994. The law was challenged in a legal suit and found unconstitutional by a federal district court. In 1999, Governor Gray Davis halted state appeals of this ruling.

Passage of Proposition 187 reflected state residents' concerns about illegal immigration into the U.S.. Opponents believed the law was discriminatory against illegal immigrants of Hispanic or Asian origin; supporters maintained that their concerns were economic: that the state could not afford to provide social services for so many illegal immigrants residents. (from Wikipedia article)