Liberty

Im a man, but I can't stand for my beliefs
I can't put my hands up (Mike Brown)
I can't take a knee
I can't run in the street (Ahmad Aubrey)
And I can't even breathe (Eric Garner)
Can't reach for my ID (Philando Castille)
They gon take my life from me

Give me liberty or give me death
But you ain't gon kill me
I saw another black man die
On my timeline today
And you ain't gon drill me
See, lessons not learned in blood
Are soon forgotten
And that's what imma tell my son to think about
The next time the cops stop him
Don't be another lesson on how to breathe
While, Underneath, the knee of the police
Held face down in the street (George Floyd)
Don't be another lesson on how iced tea and a hoodie after 9 o'clock might get you shot
(Trayvon)
Don't be another mugshot with cold still eyes (Sandra Bland)
Don't be another name on a sign
(Freddie Gray)
Don't be another reason we riot
(Rodney King)
Because we are scholars
In the school of white power
How a
Blood soaked southern region
Of poor righteous teachings
Became the chalk board that held the card score
For the race
The race
It's always been about race
The game is rigged but they still force you to play
It's always been about place
Put the blacks with their brothers
And let them kill each other
It's always been about hate
Over 400 years of murder and rape
And this is when America was great?
I couldn't tell spike lee
To not ride for radio Raheem
Because I understand
We have begged and pleaded
We have sang songs of freedoms
Had our faces spit in at sit ins
We have marched miles of this land
Only to every other year have to turn around and do it all again
Tell me
How can a people
Being peaceful
Beg to be equal
For years
And you allowed it to fall on deaf ears
What if it was you?
Would y'all life matter?
Would it still be all lives matter?
If only your family and friends were the targets
And it's always awkward when it comes to the police department
But they might not make it back from the market
Or they might get capped in their own apartment
(Breona Taylor)
Or get clapped on the way to the alter
(Sean Bell)
It always happens to be someone darker
It always happens to be someone's father
It just happens to hit some of us harder
Like the smell of burning brick and mortar
There was never no amber waves of grain
Grown In the ghetto
But instead enamored stains of pain
Sewn into the meadow
Now the foundation is shaking like jello
And What we do now
An eternity it'll echo
And we gon still be here when the dust settle
Ready to rebirth a nation
Not based in the color of it faces
On top the bones of those who couldn't see us make it
Underneath the throne that seated the overseers and the racist
Today's just a good a day as ever
To start righting some wrongs done by America
Do you wanna break the wheel
Or still follow the model
Because I just caught my lil cousin at the protest
Filling Molotov bottles saying...
Give me liberty or give me death
But you ain't gon kill me
I saw another black man die
On my timeline today...