ZEITGEIST

An interesting must see movie...

Just like old times...

Made it to NYC and I'm really feeling in my element! Although I'm still trying to finish up some grad school work, I'm taking the necessary time out here and there to see fam and celebrate my sister's birthday. Yesterday was prob the best umm... Dec 25th I've had yet! I got to spend it with lil sis in her neighborhood taking some ameture model photos in the Bronx. It was just like old times, when we would make the best of our imaginations with what little we had, except now our play tools have upgraded to digital cams and play spaces to anywhere on the block we please to roam. Check out a few images below and if you wanna see more, click on the little flickr badge to your left.

Fem Watch Episode 1: Say It Ain't So Feminism

Commentary on "feminist" blogging. Hilariously serious!


Sudy ROCKS yall!

Forbidden Dream #2

I saw you come up towards me
I, smirking
You, curious
Wanting to know what you
Wanted to find out

I had a secret

You
Full of repressed joy
Took my receptive
Body
Picked up your exhilarated thoughts
Sat me down onto some bed
Inside some strangely familiar room

What's the secret?

Oh,
Its not what you were hoping

Notwithstanding
You took me into your bold arms
Choosing the forbidden
Fuck the conventions
Attempting to
Steal a kiss

I was still
Taken aback
My teeth lock-jawed
Over your finger
Over the moment

What came of your desire
That now became mine?

A common
Forbidden
Desire

12/4 2am EST

Staceyann Chin- The One Who Started the Fire

This miraculous woman, was the first model I had that exemplified the powerful ability of queer, women of color to move audiences. She was a guest in my English class in high school back in '99 (I think) and I walked in late not knowing that day I was going to finally learn something about myself, something relative.

She was uncensored, raw, full of fire, and redefined sexy... seriously- at least for me as a high school student in those days. I followed her to the final slam at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, and even though she had lost to Kirk Nugent, she captivated my spirit. For those of you who had been to the Nuyorican, you know how small the space is- the place was packed and spilling over with bodies squatting on floors, filling up stair cases, after having paid their 10 bucks with no complaints- they were there for the holy ghost subsumed in these poets' words. This was the first day of the rest of my life.

Afterwards, my writing become charged and took on a more sophisticated character, knowing then I wanted to write for others to be validated by my words, and in turn validating my own humanity. I joined a spoken word workshop with Youth Speaks, and this helped me begin the process of developing my voice, not just in poetry but everywhere else in my life as well.

But when the spirit came down... damn. It was my first performance at the Nuyorican. I was furious that day. That day I had deeply upset my mother on her birthday- and I was raging, fumin'! I was conflicted as to whether to allow her to come witness this side of me she hadn't known. I was scared, either I'd fuck up and she'd think "oh how cute" or I'd do a great job and she'd judge or misunderstand me and the whole performance aspect. So I left her, and that fed the fire. I only brought my little sister with me. Throughout the whole train ride from Harlem down to the Lower East Side, my thoughts kept kindling the fire. When I got up on stage I was a dragon with fire blowing out of me, and everyone I looked at was connected, people were nodding their heads, yelling out "Yes!", shouting- they were right here with me, almost inside me, burning in the flames. It was my first standing ovation. I had finally come to myself.

Because the Zapatistas are a role model for hope

Break the silence
by way of Necalli Olin Tonatiuh via Zapagringo



A few selections from Necalli Olin Tonatiuh's article. Please visit link for full text- this is crucial.

The Government intends to dismantle Zapatista autonomous municipalities


In an offensive of a ferocity unprecedented in the last 9 years - since the
government of Roberto Albores Aguillen and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leo'n
ordered the dismantling of the Zapatista autonomous municipalities - the
autonomous Zapatista communities are suffering a brutal attack on the part
of the Mexican State through their agrarian institutions, "Public Security"
instances, the Mexican Federal Army and the formation of paramilitary
groups. The increase of aggressions and the intents of land seizures and
forced evictions are getting alarmingly worse.

....


Subtotal of hectares designed for seizures and evictions: 10.544 hectares.

The present list of populations subjected to and threatened by being robbed
and violently displaced from their lands and territories totals less than a
half of the threatened communities; this enumeration is only partial.

The threats of seizures and evictions are accompanied by daily aggressions
against Zapatista support bases of the types: threats, arbitrary detentions,
damages of private property, lesions, injuries under the use of prohibited
arms, robberies, abuses of office, etc. In a particularly shameful and
selective form, federal and state authorities adopt political prisoners to
use them in illegal and illegitimate negotiations, attempting to trade
releases for evictions.

Raw processing...

So yesterday I put myself through a healing writing processes. I realized that I had been spending so much time engaged in all these other activities in academia that don't always take my own humanity into account. I'm realizing how difficult it is to get through when I ignore that inner me. The academic work (busy work) I'm asked to do is surface level, never getting into the heart of issues, or at least not to the depth that I see them, or I am constantly engaged in resisting, resisting, resisting- mostly with very little or no support. I realized that I'm not doing much in actualizing/creating.

"My creativity - that's what I am missing, lost, silenced, tamed- for who, what, when did this occur and how do I take up the courage to draw it back and become?"

After some more writing, there was something else that was painful I was realizing. That for the most part, I had been alone- some part of me has been alone, if not all of me. I can't name one person alive that knows me completely. The "who" that was and has been in the process of becoming. There are a few people that know me at different stages of my life, people I love. But nobody, that knows all of me. That shit tripped me out. And it left me thinking more about spaces I allow (or not allow) myself to completely be.

"And if I should die tomorrow, only my ancestors who sent me here would know who I was to become, what I have struggled through, what I have come to know..."

Then I asked myself,

"What would I have to offer them?"

I thought about purpose. Staying focused. I know why I am here, and without this purpose, there is no existence.

"I cannot die and go back effortless. The concept of a warrior."

But this is where I hit bedrock in search of the earth's core. Are there parts of my own humanity that were meant to be sacrificed for the sake of purpose? Do the two really have to contradict? My mind says no, because revolutionary change and one's humanity are synonymous. But in actuality, it sometimes seems as if there's never enough time or space for both...

And yes, as the grainy photobooth picture indicates, I am tired and emotionally/physically burnt out!

The people's voice and Youtube..

I've been on youtube lately and I'm really excited about what people are doing with it lately. You have your everyday folks putting their critiques on the injustices of neo-colonialism out there and creating their own counter-narratives. While its easy to assume that most folks don't care, here you have people of various educational and socio-economic levels taking the time and effort to be heard and educate others on social and political issues ranging from the Jena 6, the prison industrial complex, sexism, racism, homophobia, globalization, war, you name it- its on youtube! Here are only a few of the "channels" out there I've come across:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChoklitMa
http://www.youtube.com/user/LDizza
http://www.youtube.com/user/stick187
http://www.youtube.com/user/NdiniTari
http://www.youtube.com/user/bygINCpresents
and of course my own, which is still under development...
http://www.youtube.com/tigeraconsciente

Do you have a channel? please share!

The Power of Independent Youth Media: Girl Like Me

Running Away From Ignorance

“Why would you be scared?” She asked. “Well I'm not sure exactly how I am going to feel. It’s a list of unrelated things.” I haven’t been used to having someone to really talk to about what I was going through within myself. I couldn’t find the words, and I realized that for a while, I began to feel that there were no words to describe what I was going through. But could I really understand it if I couldn’t describe it in words? “I don’t know if I’ll feel like I had lost something. Made a bad move. That's one thing I’m scared to realize.” She kept looking at me, as if she could see the experience, my life, being haphazardly juxtapositioned into words. I didn’t have to describe that the words didn’t quite fit. Even she knew how defeating the English language could be. “But then, I’m also scared that I'll come here and realize that I have moved on; that I completed my mission in this place, and that I had made the right choice to leave.” I was starting to feel like the words and my thoughts were coming into some type of compromise to put the message across. I relied more on the fact that I knew she’d understand, even with few words. She had known me well enough, I remembered. “This place. This moment in my life… I don’t want to loose it. But I also don’t want to feel stagnated. I want to progress.” Her face expressed a complete understanding, “It sounds like you need to rebuild the courage to grow in a new type of environment. You’ve been used to having us around to guide you and support you through your challenges, and so that’s the part of this you don’t want to let go of. But it also looks like you want to accept that challenge of surviving a new jungle. Unknown territory. You’ve always been a fighter, and it seems like that’s just how your identity continues to shift into defining who you are.” There’s something about this place that’s magical, and she’s just a piece of a larger world. “Look, try to think back to your first days moving here.” I was a totally different person then, I thought. I don’t know if I could really fit my old shoes that easily. “There were things you weren’t expecting that happened, that turned you into who you are today. You’ve been through some fucked up shit out here, but that shit made you a tougher person and a wiser woman. I know you’ve made the right choice, and whatever you had within yourself that allowed you to survive this place, you still have in you today. I know its not the same as it is out here, the same kind of support, but you’ll start to shift in your thinking, and realize what it is you have to do out there. The spirits are always with you, watching.” Somehow I already knew all this, but there’s something about putting words to it, as inadequate as they may be, that somehow makes the feeling tangible, like a weapon. “You’re right. So I guess I really came back to figure out what kinds of changes I’m going to have to adapt to. I need to clarify some things. Take an inventory of things I’ll leave in this old closet by these old shoes, and try to prepare myself for what I'll grow into in this new place. It’s still painful to think about it this way, though. I love this place so much. Never have I grown to know so much about myself and the world, in such little time. Six years. It sounds like a long time, but its really not.”

She looked at me, noticing I’m still feeling unresolved. “What?” “Its…its just that, six years ago, I wanted to leave home. There was nothing there for me but the redundancy of misery. I was okay about leaving. But now… now I feel like I’m leaving something good… something beautiful. But I guess there’s still… there’s still that need for growth. I think placing myself in a new context will get me where I need to be. There’s something telling me that I need to be challenged in a different way… to realize something I don’t know, something I have yet to know that I will know… you know what I mean?” We both laughed at the awkwardness of my wording. “Yea, I know.” Suddenly I had just remembered that this knowledge of the existence of an unknown was what brought me here. I wasn’t just running away from misery. I was running away from ignorance.

What is is about art and writing that's so healing??

Even when it's painful?


A friend just recently turned me on to this artist, Kara Walker, who explores ante bellem slavery through sillhouettes. Here's a brief bio on her, a few of her images, and an interview clip. This came to me just as I finished reading Kindred, from Octavia Butler.. coincidence? Who knows, but I'm in this weird state of processing what exploring this part of our painful history does to our understanding of ourselves (meaning descendants of enslaved Africans) and the society we live in today...

Biography
Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California in 1969. She received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. The artist is best known for exploring the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through her iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally proper Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery, creating a theatrical space in which her unruly cut-paper characters fornicate and inflict violence on one another. In recent works like "Darkytown Rebellion" (2000), the artist uses overhead projectors to throw colored light onto the ceiling, walls, and floor of the exhibition space. When the viewer walks into the installation, his or her body casts a shadow onto the walls where it mingles with Walker’s black-paper figures and landscapes. With one foot in the historical realism of slavery and the other in the fantastical space of the romance novel, Walker’s nightmarish fictions simultaneously seduce and implicate the audience. Walker’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. A 1997 recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award, Walker was the United States representative to the 2002 São Paolo Bienal in Brazil. Walker currently lives in New York where she is on the faculty of the MFA program at Columbia University.

These are the demented minds that racism breeds: Two Cases- Black Woman Tortured in West Virginia and The Jena 6

Deputies: Woman Was Tortured, 6 Charged
6 in W.Va. Charged in Weeklong Attack on Woman; FBI Investigating Possible
Hate Crime

By TOM BREEN
The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
Authorities said Tuesday they are considering hate crime charges in the case
of a woman who was tortured while being held captive for at least a week,
and they are investigating the possibility that she was lured by a man she
met on the Internet. The victim was repeatedly called a racial slur while
her captors sexually abused, beat and stabbed her, her mother said.
Six people, all white, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter,
were arrested in connection with the alleged abduction of the 20-year-old
black woman.
"I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did
my daughter," Carmen Williams said Tuesday from her daughter's room at
Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital. "I didn't know there were
people like that out here."
Megan Williams, with a cast on her arm, spoke barely above a whisper.
"I'm better," she said.
The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual
assault, but Williams and her mother agreed to release her name.
A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim
was lured to the house where she was attacked by a man she met on the
internet, but Carmen Williams insisted that wasn't the case. "This wasn't
from the Internet," she said.
Deputies also interviewed the victim Tuesday morning. State, local and
federal officials planned to meet later in the day to decide whether to file
hate crime charges, Logan County sheriff's Sgt. Sonya Porter said. An FBI
spokesman in Pittsburgh, Bill Crowley, confirmed that the agency is looking
into possible civil rights violations.
The woman's abductors called her the N-word "every time they stabbed her,"
Carmen Williams told The Charleston Gazette earlier.
Authorities were still looking for two people they believe drove the woman
to the house where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K.
Dingess.
The case is "something that would have come out of a horror movie," Logan
County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.
Deputies found Williams on Saturday when they went to the house in Big
Creek, about 35 miles southwest of Charleston, to investigate an anonymous
tip from someone who had witnessed the abuse, Porter said Tuesday.
One of the suspects, Frankie Brewster, was sitting on the front porch and
told deputies she was alone, but moments later the woman limped toward the
door, her arms outstretched, saying "Help me," the sheriff's department said
in a news release.
Carmen Williams said doctors told her daughter she may be well enough to
leave the hospital within a few days, although a nurse said the young
woman's condition was listed as "under evaluation."
"I just want my daughter to be well and recover," Carmen Williams said. "I
know the Lord can do anything."
Besides being sexually assaulted, the woman was stabbed four times in the
left leg and beaten, Porter said. Her eyes were black and blue. The wounds
were inflicted at least a week ago, deputies said.
The woman was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet,
according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court. She also had
been choked with a cord, it alleges.
One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle
with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized
because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.
The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Deputies were still
trying to determine whether the woman knew her assailants, Porter said.
Brewster, the 49-year-old who owns the home where the alleged attacks
occurred, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and
giving false information during a felony investigation.
Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with
kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the
commission of a felony.
Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and
assault during the commission of a felony.
Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27,
of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony
and battery.
Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious
wounding.
All six remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and all
have asked for court-appointed attorneys.

(This version CORRECTS correct woman's age to 20.)


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures


And there are institutions that support racist acts:


This is what one black man thinks about how we should respond:


What's the message you think the U.S. is giving Black folks?

Listening to Lauryn Hill..

Her Unplugged 2 album is so full of wisdom and guidelines for self-reflection and growth. Although I don't think she's perfect, I am deeply transformed by her words. I'm not a christian, but I do believe that Jesus was a prophet. And although the bible has been twisted, tainted, and exploited by European hegemonic society, I think that through reading between the lines there's still some wisdom to be found. Ms. Hill utilizes biblical tales in this way in some of her songs. Here are 4 sets of lyrics and tracks from her album. You really need to get the whole album to get the complete message. The interludes are so key. (the crossed out line reflects my disagreement with those lyrics):

"Adam Lives In Theory"

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Adam lives in theory
Trying to turn stone into bread
Masquerading like he got it figured out
Cut off from the sunshine, only smart in his own head
Leaving his descendants to hope and doubt
Left to his devices, those worthless sacrifices
Praying to the alter of himself
Making pilgrimages, thinking he's religious
Like he's got all the light, and no one else

He takes the unsuspected
Cause he knows they're not connected
And he shows them how to be just as he is
Virtually real, and commercially appealed
To the lust of all the people where he lives

Eve was so naive, blinded by the pride and greed
Wanting to be intellectual
Drifting from the way she got turned down one day
And now she thinks that she's bisexual

Caught up in emotion
Burning up in her devotion
To the king of exploitation in the field
She handed him her virtue
Cause he told her "I won't hurt you"
So she lay with him to see how good it feels

Now can you tell me, what, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now
Now can you tell me, what, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now

Now after the sensation, and the empty fornication
She brought affection home into her bed, quickly multiplying
Now the 3 of them are dying by the poison she perceived to be good head
Now Eve and her husband are perverted in their judgment
Cause everything appears to be the same
They entertain suggestion,
Next time just use protection

Desiring to cover up their shame
But much to their demise, poor decision closed their eyes
To the very antidote to their dilemma
Burning in their lust,
Both of them adulterous
Destroying the original agenda
Praying to the sky, in order to maintain a lie
They exhausted every possible conclusion,
They can't even entertain the solution,
In a brain filled with vain information and pollution

Hiding from the truth,
He provided an excuse to explain away his desperate situation
When confronted, blamed his wife
Giving birth to carnal life
Refusing to acknowledge what he done

Now if we can agree with who created us to be
Who says we're guilty everyone before his eyes
Making no exceptions, since the day of our conception
Predisposed to hating truth, and loving lies

Then can you tell me, what, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now
Then can you tell me, what, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now

Stop walking in pride, let the thief be crucified
Un-learn everything you know, and let him teach you
Line upon line, precept upon precept, say goodbye,
To this decaying social system
He wants to know, how far we're willing to go
If we love him like we say we do,
He will try us

Just don't regress,
Or slip into hopelessness
Once he's satisfied his love,
He won't deny us,

And then he'll tell us,
What, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now

And then he'll tell us,
What, what we gonna do now
Where we gonna go now, what we gonna say now



"Oh Jerusalem"

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Realizing that there's no place else to go
And there's nobody I know who can help me
Text book solutions are so improbable
Cause everybody else is just as empty
Naked as the day that I was born, I tried to hide
...behind education and philosophy
Hopeless explanation to describe a situation
I can't see because the world's on top of me
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Freeing me from dust, and the superficial trust
Of an enemy that seeks to take my breath
Failing to connect, cause I'm morally defect
By reason of the God inside my head
Causing me to see, only what pertains to me
Believing I'm alive when I'm still dead
Limited to earth, unable to find out my worth
Cause I... can't see past my own vanity
If I'm not included, then I just have to remove it
From my mind because it has to be in sanity
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Can I even factor, that I've only been an actor
In this staged interpretation of this day
Focused on the shadow, with my back turned to the light
Too intelligent to see it's me in the way
What a paradox, having God trapped in a box
All this time professing to be spiritual
Naturally pretending, that I'm actually defending
God through my facade don't need material

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, keeping thee from perfection

Submit to truth, leave the deception of thy youth
So we could walk in the council of authority
Forget the proof, our generation so aloof
Only follow in the steps of the majority
Trust in the Lord, with all thy heart
And lay not to thine, oh an understanding in all thy ways
Acknowledge Him, and He shall correct our paths
Be not wise in thine own eyes and you can follow him
We judge and condemn, just as ignorant as them
Who religion tells us that we should ignore
Perpetrating we're in covenant with Him
Exposed by the very things that we adore
We grin and shake hands, then lay ambush for the man
Who has a different point of view then us
Infuriated cause he doesn't understand
Bringing up those things we don't want to discuss
Why still do evil, we don't know how to do good
Walking on in darkness running from the light, ey
Led to believe, because we live in neighborhoods
Telling us what's going on will be alright
Oh so repressed, so convinced that I was blessed
When I played with my game of Monopoly
Oh to suggest, that my life is still a mess
Who reveal the pride I'm hiding is what's stopping me

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem keeping them from perfection

Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bare
...fruit of itself except in the vine
I am the vine, ye are the branches, He's in live in me
And I in him, the same bring forth much fruit
Without me, you can do nothing
Oh Jerusalem, you're traditions have deceived you
I've chosen you, you haven't chosen me
Do whatsoever, you asking my name he may give to you
But in vain they call my name
teaching doctrines just the same
Justified among themselves
But God know with the heart, what man esteemed as smart
Is an abomination to Emmanuel
Just repent, turn from selfish motivation
So iniquity will not cause your demise
Make you a new heart and a new spirit
...for why would he die
Oh Jerusalem, please tell me why
I have no pleasure in the death of him to die
Says the Lord God where forth turn yourselves and live
It's not the talkers, but the walkers and his word
Are the only ones the Father will forgive

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, providing you no protection

Oh Jerusalem...


"Freedom Time"


powered by ODEO

[Singing Chorus]
Everybody knows that they're guilty
Everybody knows that they've lied
Everybody knows that they're guilty
Resting on their conscience eating their inside
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
Time to get free, oh give us yourselves up now
It's freedom, said it's freedom time

[First and only verse]
Yo, there's a war in the mind, over territory
For the dominion
Who will dominate the opinion
Skisms and isms, keepin' us in forms of religion
Conformin' our vision
To the world churches decision
Trapped in a section
Submitted to committee election
Moral infection
Epidemic lies and deception
Insurrection
Of the highest possible order
Destortin' our tape recorders
From hearin' like under water
Beyond the borders
Fond of sin and disorder
Bound by the strategy
It's systematic depravity
Heavy as gravity
Head first in the cavity
Without a bottom
A faith, worse than Saddam
Once got him
Drunk of the spirits
Truth comes, we can't hear it
When you've been, programmed to fear it
I had a vision
I was fallin' in indecision
Apollin', callin' religion
Some program on television
How can dominant wisdom
Be recognized in the system
Of Anti-Christ, the majority rules
Intelligent fools
PhD's in illusion
Masters of mass confusion
Bacholors in past illusion
Now who you choosin'
The head or the tail
The bloodshed of male
More confidence in the tale
Conference is in Yale
Discussin' doctrines of Baal
Causin' people to fail
Keepin' the third in jail
His word is nale
Everything to the tree
Severing all of me from all that I used to be
Formless and void
Totally paranoid
Enjoy darkness as the Lord
Keepin' me from the sword
Block for mercy
Bitter than (?)
Hungry and thirsty
For good meat we would eat
And still, dined at the table of deceit
How incomplete
From confrontation to retreat
We prolong the true enemy’s defeat
Death to the ascendancy
Causin' desperation to get the best of me
Punishment 'til there was nothing left of me
Realizin' the unescapable death of me
No options in the valley of decision
The only doctrine, supernatural circumcision
Inwardly, only water can purge the heart
From words that fiery darts
Thrown by the workers of the arts
Iniquity, shapen in
There're no escapin' when
You're whole philosophy is paper thin
In vanity
The wide road is insanity
Could it be all of humanity
Picture that
Scripture that
The origin of a man's heart is black
How can we show up for
An invisible war
Preoccupied with a shadow, makin' love with a whore
Achin' in sores
Babylon, the great mystery
Mother of human history
System of social sorcery
Our present condition
Needs serious recognition
Where there's no repentance there can be no remission
And that sentence, more serious than Vietnam
The atom bomb is Saddam and Minister Farakkhan
What's goin' on, what's the priority to you
What authority do we do
When the majority hasn't a clue
We majored in curses
Search the chapters, check the verses
Recapture the land
Remove the mark from off of our hands
So we can stand
In agreement with his command
Everything else is damned
Let them with ears understand
Everything else is damned, let them with ears understand

[Singing Chorus]
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
It's freedom, I'ma be who I am
It's freedom time, said it's freedom time
Everybody knows that they've lied
Everybody knows that they've perpetrated inside
Everybody knows that they're guilty, yes
Resting on their conscience eating their insides
Get free, be who you're supposed to be
Freedom, said it's freedom time now
Freedom, said it's freedom time
Freedom, freedom time now


"Rebel" [This is the first track on my player]

I find it hard to say, that everything is alright
Don't look at me that way, like everything is alright
Cuz my own eyes can see, through all your false pretenses
But what you fail to see, is all the consequences
You think our lives are cheap, and easy to be wasted
As history repeats, so foul you can taste it
And while the people sleep, too comfortable to face it
His life so incomplete, and nothing can replace it
And while the people sleep, too comfortable to face it
Your lives so incomplete, and nothing can replace it
Fret not thyself I say, against these laws of man
Cuz like the Bible says, His blood is on their hands
And what I gotta say, and what I gotta say, is rebel
While today is still today, choose well
And what I gotta say, is rebel, it can't go down this way
Choose well, choose well, choose well...
...choose well, choose well, choose well
And while the people sleep, too comfortable to face it
Your lives are so incomplete, and nothing, and no one, can replace it
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
And what I gotta say, and what I gotta say
And what I gotta say, and what I gotta say
And what I gotta say, and what I gotta say
And what I gotta say, and what I gotta say
Is rebel... rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
Repent, the day is far too spent, rebel... rebel!
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up...
Wake up and rebel
We must destroy in order to rebuild
Wake up, you might as well
Oh are you... oh are you satisfied
Oh are you satisfied
Rebel... ohhh rebel
Why don't you rebel, why don't you rebel?
Why don't you rebel?
I'm fading myself down now...