Does my brown skin cast a shadow of guilt
upon the history that validated the hurt
upon my ancestors rolling in the dirt
never would you have thought they were
planting me.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
see me next to you
We declare reform
but who wants to let go
the pain of the future
is to admit
who needs convenience
in isolated worlds
with insulated windows
where the life of grit and crime
is the plight of those we pass by
We scream revolution
as if status quo was a ghost
that haunts old corners
of founding fathers
fondling newborns
new rules to uphold
they whisper from cracks in foundations
we shiver how cold
is the genuine guidance
Is there a leader in the midst
or is it fickle as the mist
the pendulum swings
even for the lifted fist
Somewhere, somehow
can visions manifest
but who’s eye is right
when half looks to the left
some can’t connect
others think they’ve done it
still there are those who refuse to break a sweat
what is the hope
even for the white-eyed hopeful
is it okay if tears
cut like shears
pierce through overgrown
institutionalization?
alien infestation
of minds high on matching pigmentation
the priviledged nation
pervades landscapes
blocking sunlight
making us believe
there is only one all seeing eye
Don’t give up insight
Child of the night
Cause it is our cries
that purify
We can see clean again
when we reflect our presence
millions of angles
for 360 perspective
each vision a piece
that colors creation
speak in a mirror
and see the divine mission
thoughts of inspiration
wraps like a shield
as we are warriors that pierce through black cloak of illumati
don’t be fooled by the mockery
of our identity as children of the cosmos
we won’t be limited and told
to fight wars on ancestral lands
and to continue the suffocation
of our destined evolution
cause we plant new seed just by seeing injustice and rooting our feet
because the truth is clear as the sun
we shall stand under together
our voices in unison
Like mountains climbing
like waters rippling
we come from the deep where
untold histories are rising
cracking the cement
too many times we’ve struggled
cause we chose to oppress
But the earth shall speak in one voice
even if we think we’re different
yes brother, yes sister
we do bleed red
but when the time comes
will you break a sweat?
when the time comes
will our hands be connected?
but who wants to let go
the pain of the future
is to admit
who needs convenience
in isolated worlds
with insulated windows
where the life of grit and crime
is the plight of those we pass by
We scream revolution
as if status quo was a ghost
that haunts old corners
of founding fathers
fondling newborns
new rules to uphold
they whisper from cracks in foundations
we shiver how cold
is the genuine guidance
Is there a leader in the midst
or is it fickle as the mist
the pendulum swings
even for the lifted fist
Somewhere, somehow
can visions manifest
but who’s eye is right
when half looks to the left
some can’t connect
others think they’ve done it
still there are those who refuse to break a sweat
what is the hope
even for the white-eyed hopeful
is it okay if tears
cut like shears
pierce through overgrown
institutionalization?
alien infestation
of minds high on matching pigmentation
the priviledged nation
pervades landscapes
blocking sunlight
making us believe
there is only one all seeing eye
Don’t give up insight
Child of the night
Cause it is our cries
that purify
We can see clean again
when we reflect our presence
millions of angles
for 360 perspective
each vision a piece
that colors creation
speak in a mirror
and see the divine mission
thoughts of inspiration
wraps like a shield
as we are warriors that pierce through black cloak of illumati
don’t be fooled by the mockery
of our identity as children of the cosmos
we won’t be limited and told
to fight wars on ancestral lands
and to continue the suffocation
of our destined evolution
cause we plant new seed just by seeing injustice and rooting our feet
because the truth is clear as the sun
we shall stand under together
our voices in unison
Like mountains climbing
like waters rippling
we come from the deep where
untold histories are rising
cracking the cement
too many times we’ve struggled
cause we chose to oppress
But the earth shall speak in one voice
even if we think we’re different
yes brother, yes sister
we do bleed red
but when the time comes
will you break a sweat?
when the time comes
will our hands be connected?
ode
So there’s an old threat in town
Like old bones exhumed
Fresh from the ground
Round and round do the ghosts walk
Speak to us when we talk
like there are no skeletons
in the closet
Please don’t frown at clowns
Covering their face with white paint
just so they entertain
like ghouls maimed of pain
But then you cry when balloons fly away
and the circus leaves an empty spot
Like sandlewood forests cut
Or native trees trampled
by the cattle-ness of society.
Eyes glazed as they graze for the green
And don’t even feel the killing they do with their feet
Stomping on the history that was here
Identities clear cut when the flag
Stabbed into the land that held them up
Like ancestor’s backs
Now you push me down cause I pass for black
I mean, look back
Or am proof that oppression is a fact
To this very day
Tell me in my face that racism is dead
Of course you won’t because that would bring up dread
in the shadows of your subsconscious
where white privledge sits in dark cloaks
in quiet ritual
Never he spoke cause the magician
rolls the dice
in the roll of your eye
when you see another fight between a white and local boy
Or an ice head breaking into a home
Or an accident that bled of alcohol
Don’t think that you avoided the fall
Continuing how you are
Judging that what goes on
has nothing to do with you at all
Cause history comes back to haunt
and the demons you thought were buried
have come back and revisited
the foundations of this country
Taking control of institutions
making sure the colored are still beat
by structural violence
The bricks too heavy
For the trampled to lift
Making sure the lifestyle you live
Lessens the food and water to their lips
Weakens their mind to rise above the hardships
Not imposed by lack of strength
to pull themselves up by the bootstraps
But because they are still enslaved
in factory mentalities
makin boots to keep status quo going
that make them think they’re just worth to work
shit jobs, with crap pay
Ice and drugs are then the savior
To keep them running the imposed
rat race.
Look around
and see the shivers you feel
Cause the ghosts are free
and haunting these streets
Does modernity scare you by remembering history?
But I shall still speak
of the stories in the skin
Untold underneath the shadows of racism
Where the psychology of the past
still dominates minds to keep a blanket
to hide the fear of stereotypes.
But they are false
and we need to be free
Let the ghosts ressurrect
When we help not expecting
to be benevolent
But listening
To the stories of families broken
Cultures misunderstood
Futures taken
because of pasts abused
Don’t turn away
Like during the slave days
Sayin those with dark skin
can endure the sun’s harsh gaze
while others can be sheltered
from the guilt and the pain.
The only way to free the ghosts
Is to look at them in their face
Like old bones exhumed
Fresh from the ground
Round and round do the ghosts walk
Speak to us when we talk
like there are no skeletons
in the closet
Please don’t frown at clowns
Covering their face with white paint
just so they entertain
like ghouls maimed of pain
But then you cry when balloons fly away
and the circus leaves an empty spot
Like sandlewood forests cut
Or native trees trampled
by the cattle-ness of society.
Eyes glazed as they graze for the green
And don’t even feel the killing they do with their feet
Stomping on the history that was here
Identities clear cut when the flag
Stabbed into the land that held them up
Like ancestor’s backs
Now you push me down cause I pass for black
I mean, look back
Or am proof that oppression is a fact
To this very day
Tell me in my face that racism is dead
Of course you won’t because that would bring up dread
in the shadows of your subsconscious
where white privledge sits in dark cloaks
in quiet ritual
Never he spoke cause the magician
rolls the dice
in the roll of your eye
when you see another fight between a white and local boy
Or an ice head breaking into a home
Or an accident that bled of alcohol
Don’t think that you avoided the fall
Continuing how you are
Judging that what goes on
has nothing to do with you at all
Cause history comes back to haunt
and the demons you thought were buried
have come back and revisited
the foundations of this country
Taking control of institutions
making sure the colored are still beat
by structural violence
The bricks too heavy
For the trampled to lift
Making sure the lifestyle you live
Lessens the food and water to their lips
Weakens their mind to rise above the hardships
Not imposed by lack of strength
to pull themselves up by the bootstraps
But because they are still enslaved
in factory mentalities
makin boots to keep status quo going
that make them think they’re just worth to work
shit jobs, with crap pay
Ice and drugs are then the savior
To keep them running the imposed
rat race.
Look around
and see the shivers you feel
Cause the ghosts are free
and haunting these streets
Does modernity scare you by remembering history?
But I shall still speak
of the stories in the skin
Untold underneath the shadows of racism
Where the psychology of the past
still dominates minds to keep a blanket
to hide the fear of stereotypes.
But they are false
and we need to be free
Let the ghosts ressurrect
When we help not expecting
to be benevolent
But listening
To the stories of families broken
Cultures misunderstood
Futures taken
because of pasts abused
Don’t turn away
Like during the slave days
Sayin those with dark skin
can endure the sun’s harsh gaze
while others can be sheltered
from the guilt and the pain.
The only way to free the ghosts
Is to look at them in their face
old threat
So there’s an old threat in town
Like old bones exhumed
Fresh from the ground
Round and round do the ghosts walk
Speak to us when we talk
like there are no skeletons
in the closet
Please don’t frown at clowns
Covering their face with white paint
just so they entertain
like ghouls maimed of pain
But then you cry when balloons fly away
and the circus leaves an empty spot
Like sandlewood forests cut
Or native trees trampled
by the cattle-ness of society.
Eyes glazed as they graze for the green
And don’t even feel the killing they do with their feet
Stomping on the history that was here
Identities clear cut when the flag
Stabbed into the land that held them up
Like ancestor’s backs
Now you push me down cause I pass for black
I mean, look back
Or am proof that oppression is a fact
To this very day
Tell me in my face that racism is dead
Of course you won’t because that would bring up dread
in the shadows of your subsconscious
where white privledge sits in dark cloaks
in quiet ritual
Never he spoke cause the magician
rolls the dice
in the roll of your eye
when you see another fight between a white and local boy
Or an ice head breaking into a home
Or an accident that bled of alcohol
Don’t think that you avoided the fall
Continuing how you are
Judging that what goes on
has nothing to do with you at all
Cause history comes back to haunt
and the demons you thought were buried
have come back and revisited
the foundations of this country
Taking control of institutions
making sure the colored are still beat
by structural violence
The bricks too heavy
For the trampled to lift
Making sure the lifestyle you live
Lessens the food and water to their lips
Weakens their mind to rise above the hardships
Not imposed by lack of strength
to pull themselves up by the bootstraps
But because they are still enslaved
in factory mentalities
makin boots to keep status quo going
that make them think they’re just worth to work
shit jobs, with crap pay
Ice and drugs are then the savior
To keep them running the imposed
rat race.
Look around
and see the shivers you feel
Cause the ghosts are free
and haunting these streets
Does modernity scare you by remembering history?
But I shall still speak
of the stories in the skin
Untold underneath the shadows of racism
Where the psychology of the past
still dominates minds to keep a blanket
to hide the fear of stereotypes.
But they are false
and we need to be free
Let the ghosts ressurrect
When we help not expecting
to be benevolent
But listening
To the stories of families broken
Cultures misunderstood
Futures taken
because of pasts abused
Don’t turn away
Like during the slave days
Sayin those with dark skin
can endure the sun’s harsh gaze
while others can be sheltered
from the guilt and the pain.
The only way to free the ghosts
Is to look at them in their face
Like old bones exhumed
Fresh from the ground
Round and round do the ghosts walk
Speak to us when we talk
like there are no skeletons
in the closet
Please don’t frown at clowns
Covering their face with white paint
just so they entertain
like ghouls maimed of pain
But then you cry when balloons fly away
and the circus leaves an empty spot
Like sandlewood forests cut
Or native trees trampled
by the cattle-ness of society.
Eyes glazed as they graze for the green
And don’t even feel the killing they do with their feet
Stomping on the history that was here
Identities clear cut when the flag
Stabbed into the land that held them up
Like ancestor’s backs
Now you push me down cause I pass for black
I mean, look back
Or am proof that oppression is a fact
To this very day
Tell me in my face that racism is dead
Of course you won’t because that would bring up dread
in the shadows of your subsconscious
where white privledge sits in dark cloaks
in quiet ritual
Never he spoke cause the magician
rolls the dice
in the roll of your eye
when you see another fight between a white and local boy
Or an ice head breaking into a home
Or an accident that bled of alcohol
Don’t think that you avoided the fall
Continuing how you are
Judging that what goes on
has nothing to do with you at all
Cause history comes back to haunt
and the demons you thought were buried
have come back and revisited
the foundations of this country
Taking control of institutions
making sure the colored are still beat
by structural violence
The bricks too heavy
For the trampled to lift
Making sure the lifestyle you live
Lessens the food and water to their lips
Weakens their mind to rise above the hardships
Not imposed by lack of strength
to pull themselves up by the bootstraps
But because they are still enslaved
in factory mentalities
makin boots to keep status quo going
that make them think they’re just worth to work
shit jobs, with crap pay
Ice and drugs are then the savior
To keep them running the imposed
rat race.
Look around
and see the shivers you feel
Cause the ghosts are free
and haunting these streets
Does modernity scare you by remembering history?
But I shall still speak
of the stories in the skin
Untold underneath the shadows of racism
Where the psychology of the past
still dominates minds to keep a blanket
to hide the fear of stereotypes.
But they are false
and we need to be free
Let the ghosts ressurrect
When we help not expecting
to be benevolent
But listening
To the stories of families broken
Cultures misunderstood
Futures taken
because of pasts abused
Don’t turn away
Like during the slave days
Sayin those with dark skin
can endure the sun’s harsh gaze
while others can be sheltered
from the guilt and the pain.
The only way to free the ghosts
Is to look at them in their face
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