"Once you change your philosophy, you change you thought pattern.
Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude.
Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern."
Malcolm X
"I have a dream my four little children will one day live
in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You should be skillin', but you're killin' and you're botchin' it up;
the Dream that Martin had and Malcolm had
and many before.
Not ok! You outta your mind?!
Chil'ren, take a minute; listen to your elders!
You hurt your posture and your power with your pants at your knees.
Do you really expect someone to take you seriously?
Mark the time! You've fallen behind;
you are less prepared than kids from most other nations.*
Chorus:
Hey Cool!
someone oughta smack you!
Hey fool,
someone oughta slap you
outta your darkness and into your light!
You could be a saviour for your generation!
Hey, Cool,
what is your intention?
Are you society's invention?
Focus your thoughts and ennoble** your life.
Harness your mind;
your only limit is imagination.
(So
sad, to see you do what you do;
so sad, babies.)
"Enough is enough!! 42 homicides should be an outrage!!
We talkin' about our children!!"
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Your Black forefathers worked too
hard to gain a reputation
of being smarter, working harder; forcing integration.
How dare you say
"All of that's fine. But, what's that got to do with me; it's the
2000s?"?!!
Stop actin' silly, it's not pretty when you open your mouth,
and conversation like a slave from 1800 comes out!
What'll you say, when you're my age,
and you’ve squandered away all your cultural advantage?
Chorus
I'm not gonna give you another
lesson in Black History.
I
just wanna talk about what those who went before you see.
Those
who chose to catch the bus at 6AM,
to go
to schools where white folks said we just couldn't win;
who
worked through sorry jobs and bosses to get degrees;
who
proved our people have the power to compete and win
at
anything and everything we decide we're gonna do.
Despite
enormous odds, we gave the whole world proof!
Now,
you drop out and you dumb down
and
you're beggin' folks that you don't know to "help a nigga
out!",
when
you can't even confabulate and pretend you're not a fool!!
Talkin'
filth and thinking people are respectin' you;
steadily
tearing down what your elders tried to build for you!!
Hear
the voice of reason shouting out among your peers!
We
trusted that you would be taking up the rear;
chiiild
- don't let our cultural advantage disappear!!!
Chorus 3x
So sad.
So sad. Stop the killin', babies.
So
sad. Stop
the killin', babies.
So
sad. Stop
the killin', please!
"Let each person do his or her part.
If one citizen is unwilling to participate,
all of us are going to suffer.
(What are you doin' babe;
what Dream you tryin' to get to?)
For the American idea,
though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us."
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
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