In This Together

From Ethiopia to Zambia, real people Just to be real ya'll, it's so hard to feel people Without feeling they hurt too I don't mean to unnerve you But to unearth truth hidden Tribal living ain't evil Missionary, yeah I see you Feeling good because you think You're saving people with your money, bibles and your things Who live in poverty because you got those things But our self-sufficiency ain't a part of your mission is it In places where to eat we gotta say that we are Christian I don't care what you believe in But imposing your religion on folks that need medicine Is poison with the same hand And it shouldn't even be a part of your doctrine I got friends and family who grew up in the east Cradle of civilization, and raised to believe Blonde hair, bright skin & blue eyes is what beauty means A white Jesus still hangs on my grandma's mantle piece Schools in Africa are teaching U.S. history European-centered so it's not a big mystery On how my whole family disappeared out to these parts Everyday the pain weighs heavy on my heart They say Ethiopia is not colonized, Jah Rastafari praise What would they say if they had my eyes May not of come in chains, still enslaved in the mind We in this together son, your beef is mine From Flatbush to Crown Heights now, real people Just to be real ya'll, it's still hard to feel people That rep red, yellow, green, hella harder then me I never understood all the symbolism you see No disrespect ya'll, but the emperor you represent Was an emperor to us, nothing more, nothing less And he power-tripped just like all of the rest And he was still in power when our schools were ruled by the west It wasn't just famine, anguish, and civil unrest To how I lost my mother's language Born in America yet, we still citizens to the projects To some, that's not impoverished, that's accomplished When anywhere in America must mean that you got shit But it don't take long to see that you are accosted If they call you Black, you got the worst prospect To live it up the best, so we reject ourselves Like Black folks and Africans don't share the same hell For us to survive we do each need to help Crush the divide, find beauty in ourselves Respect life, and stop killing ourselves They say Ethiopia is not colonized, Jah Rastafari praise What would they say if they had my eyes May not of come in chains, still enslaved in the mind We in this together son, your beef is mine Now from Rwanda to Compton, real people Face mass murder everyday I can't feel people that look the other way Because it ain't happening to them They live American, blaming the victim for their genocide Who mastered divide & conquer so well Ask any set, or any tribe From any side, or even nation Ammunition we are facing These guns have been placed in our hands by who Probably the same fools that named us n*gger After cannonballs Now we are stone cold killers So who's controlling your mind It's done by design Until we were colonized we weren't even identified by race Now they say that it justifies their hate Dehumanization really does go a long way From Willie Lynch papers to East Africa today And I can be locked away for these things that I say But I'm not afraid of them not feeling me I mean, what's the point if they're not seeing me To stop being me To reach my real people, worldwide on the front lines I'm a ride, and never give up the fight to protect life They say Ethiopia is not colonized, Jah Rastafari praise What would they say if they had my eyes May not of come in chains, still enslaved in the mind We in this together son, your beef is mine