Sose – How come?

A lot of years have passed, and nobody has kept their word,
Again and again, we’re kicked to the curb,
A French king once said Roma should be treated as equals.

Did they keep their word? Did they respect our people?

Well, I hear that they just displaced the Roma from France,
I wonder why they won’t give us a chance?
Where is the tolerance? Why do they look at us like an illiterate nation?
How long will we take this discrimination?

Life is tough, you never know what will be,
Will they love us or hate us? In time we will see…

All the old folks say, things were better in the old days,
Times are tough, life is rough, why did things change?

How come, how come people look down on our kind?
How come, how come things were better in the old times?

In the past the Roma were seen as a good people,
Who made beautiful music, and were respected as equals,
Now I have to wonder, why have things changed?
Why is our social status completely rearranged?
I asked my mom, my dad, and my grandpa too,
Did you face discrimination or is this something new?
When Tito was around we all slept in peace,
And now we can barely walk down the streets,
I heard a Rom was beaten up and left for dead,
And people walked right by, didn’t even turn their heads.

Wait just a minute, let’s rewind the tape,
Things were better in the past, now there’s so much hate,
We can’t walk outside after the sun sets,
Because we fear what we hear aren’t empty threats,
I’d grab my coat and hat and  family too,
And try to settle down somewhere new,
But everywhere we go it’s the same old song,
They chase us away even though it’s wrong.