Tell Me How It Goes

I wrote this on Alki, back in 2009 Just watching the waves go back and forth Thinking about my fam on the other side of the planet Just like all water is connected I thought about how our struggles are connected too To my fam across the globe Close to heart and unknown From the parts they don't show unless it's to demonize us They try to justify continued genocide Whether it's the Central, the South Side, or Palestine They make it seem like we're mad for no reason While more mothers are having to bury their children Than the other way around In a town the size of Gaza You ever stop and think what makes a suicide bomber? It's not a religion, it's not a draft When somebody bombs your house, your land, and you can't go back Imagine if they killed your fam You might wanna hit 'em back Maybe with everything you have left Down to your last breath If it's that serious and no justice exists I can't watch the news for a minute, I get pissed It's like they refuse to see the struggle that exists Nor do they ever ask the other side how it is I don't know how many years later it is right now But everything we were talking about back then Is happening now, again It's like this shit never stops 500 years of fighting colonization But we still here Here it's the same shit, but different Where I live the conditions are warlike And the system tracks children into prison Before giving them a minute Or a chance to advance And their innocence is taken It's modern day enslavement In numbers higher than the middle passage And that statement should send shockwaves around the globe But it doesn't though Here the cops beat a little girl They televised the video My city didn't revolt Like they don't care when we die So I don't bat an eye if I offend my white listeners Especially concerning entitlement and privilege When every breath I take is an act of resistance Your city's so P.C.? Well my city's tryna kill us It's an imbalance across lines of race, class, gender, orientation, placement Now with gentrification I could be next door Bullets hurled in my direction While my new neighbors ignore Our bodies hitting the floor Like a wrecking ball's roar Full house, no more Cause they family was poor It's like my family left one war Just so we could grow up Traumatized In the middle of another war It all goes in cycles It's crazy revisiting this song I wrote that last verse living in the Central District Only Black family on my block White families would say hello to each other and not even acknowledge us They probably got Black Lives Matter signs in their yard right now But we ain't even there Can't afford it We still fighting though We still surviving though