them, us - sidewalk chalk lyrics
[chorus]
all we hear is them, us, them, us, them, us, them
all we hear is, all we hear is
[verse 1: rico sisney]
they say,”poor might be the new black.”
it’s the old one
race is just the new cl-ss
i was told once
how the irish became white
kenyans, jamaicans, cubans
nigerians, brazilians, haitians and more became black
the moors were erased fast
that’s tragic as oth-llo
puritans use to view blackness as of the devil
nation of islam said whiteness was of the devil
and through it all the same dynasties kept going
in my heart of hearts
i feel for those who fought as hard as they could against oligarchs
and at times even got as far as watching things fall apart
but once humpty dumpty becomes a t-1000
what can we do about them?
[chorus]
[verse 2: marga marion]
oh world, wake up world
as the sun rises beyond the horizon, life your heavy eyelids
oh world, wake up world
as the line drawn between two sides fades away, fades away
we realize the side we choose is all the same
nothing to separate us, no one to blame
[chorus]
[verse 3:
i inspected my hoodie to see if it was trayvon’s
after a middle-aged, wealthy white man with a gun told me what he was afraid of: me
his response to the images he’d seen on television screens was to
take up arms to protect his family from lawless mobs of black kids
take up arms like that fbi informant, richard aoki, told
bobby seale and huey newton, founders of the black panther party
“take up arms before you take this iconic photo”
and from that point on, one point out of their ten point program would forevermore define them
not freedom, not education, not employment, not housing, not free breakfast for kids, not even reparations but arms
and now we see them taking up arms in ferguson
hands held higher than heads for mike brown who, right now, looks like every black or brown kid
he certainly looks like me
and i’ve debated…
i’ve debated whether or not to blame my doppelgängers
for every time i was stopped by a cop that thought i was a robber or gang banger
apparently i fit a description given by a witness who would prefer to remain nameless
as i heard the same statement:
“we’ve had a disturbance in the neighborhood.”
i was a disturbance to the neighborhood
“there’s some hood at the neighbors!
i think he’s from some neighboring hood or block!”
wonder why i cringe at the words neighborhood watch?
when a flip of a switch is all it takes for good cops to become k!ller cops?
for good protestors to start screaming
“k!ll the cops!”
will it stop?
i say, “yes”
when i’m feeling optimistic because
our position of opposition is not a given
but for some reason…
all we hear is them, us, them, us, them, us, them
all we hear is, all we hear is
[marga marion]
can we find a way? can we find a way?
[rico sisney]
put one finger in the air. just one finger in the air
[outro]
we must
do better
at loving
each other
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