Manifesto
I’m on a mission to free all of the
people
I got a vision of peace on earth
and my decision to shape reality
will be in my every act and word
I’ve heard the calling to serve the
revolution
I’m only wanting to save the world
and I’ve been longing to give to the
solution
all the gifts that I’ve got like pearls
I have a purpose, a role to play in
history
I’m at the service of humankind
and in the furnace of this society
I do believe will be forged a diamond
And so I’m ready to put it into action
won’t get too heady but I’ll use my
head
and I’ll be steady creating and
attracting
what my spirit knows lies ahead
We’re on a mission to free all of the
people
We got a vision of peace on earth
and our decision to shape reality
will be in our every act and word
* * *
Under The Viaduct
Under the viaduct
by the waters of Uptown
that’s where we sat down
and we remembered Zion
Under the viaduct
where we pitched our tents
and our tormentors said
we had the right to die
O my Lord, how shall we
sing your song
in this foreign land?
I saw my neighbors there
by the waters of Uptown
in Tent City, intensity in their righteous eyes
as they stared them cops down
I saw my neighbors there
all faiths and all skin tones
when the city kicked em out,
they were singin: "This land belongs to
you and me", O,
O how good and pleasant
that would be
if only that would be
Under the viaducts
I saw the revolution
men and women fightin for each other
and the right to be human
Under the viaducts
Where we laid our heads on concrete beds,
restless nights layin awake, prayin for
deliverance,
O my Lord, please save us –
don't delay –
Let us come home.
* * *
Waterfall Blues
Oh, my lover, I’m comin home to you
again!
Oh, my lover, I’m-a comin home to you
again!
I wanna stay there beside you, darlin,
every second that I can!
Like a waterfall, we make music that attacks
just like a waterall, we’re makin music
that attacks
I wanna lay down beside you, baby, run
your rivers down my back
When I go
astray,
you always know
what to say
Even when money
is scarce,
I’m never
really scared
As long as I am
with you,
I’m happy even
when I’m
Blue
It’s the cold season, in this cold,
wicked world
yea it’s the coldest season of this
cold and wicked world
we gotta love on each other just to
bring back some fire to our souls
We’re in trouble, Lord, Oh, we’re just
hangin by a thread
We’re in big trouble, Lord, oh, all
life is hangin by a thread
Won’t you take pity on us -- for
whatever lies ahead!
When I go
astray,
you always know
what to say
Even when money
is scarce,
I’m never
really scared
As long as I am
with you,
I’m happy even
when I’m
Blue
heart beat
you can’t kill the heartbeat
it’s startin to beat ya, it’ll start to
teach ya, yea,
you can’t kill the heartbeat
the art, or freedom, the art of
freedom, yea,
you can’t kill the heartbeat
the harder you beat us, the more that
you feed us, yea,
you can’t kill the heart beat
the star keeps beamin, the heart keeps
beatin, yea
never has a tyrant entirely silenced
his defiance
nor a line of riot cops in time
overrided the riots
never has revival of genocidal ideas
triumphed
long enough, right, to quiet all of the
fighters though they’ve always tried
even after years and centuries of
treaties proven hollow
Wounded Knee and DAPL, see the Sioux
uphold laws you don’t follow
even after Jackson, slave-catchers,
Alabama, Laquan McDonald,
Watts, Holocausts, and Ayotzinapa, you
can’t stop Hip Hop, no!
definitely not in any of my favorite
spots in Chicago
in the city of John Vietnam, Haymarket
Martyrs, DuSable,
every minute that I’m still breathin,
best believe I’ma be following
where the wind blows, heart still
beatin, feelin the flow of the Tao..
Oh,
you can’t kill the heartbeat
it’s startin to beat ya, it’ll start to
teach ya, yea,
you can’t kill the heartbeat
the art, or freedom, the art of
freedom, yea,
you can’t kill the heartbeat
the harder you beat us, the more that
you feed us, yea,
you can’t kill the heart beat
the star keeps beamin, the heart keeps
beatin, yea
[LO Kari]
Have you ever been hated?
Conversation / Know your color /
At this rate we're chasin /
Truth and light / but would leave your brother /
What more is to life?
I can't seem to shake this feelin
What's wrong is right
I'd rather focus on winning
Cuz every time I turn on the news
It's back to back to back that my people dyin
And it's a shame we pretend like
Every thing is fine and /
And what good is a lion
If they cut off your feet as a cub?
I do not fuck with your hugs
How can I trust you after all the things you've done
To people who look like us?
[Crowd]
you can’t kill the heartbeat, (Get up, stand up!)
you can’t kill the heartbeat, (Stand up for your rights!)
you can’t kill the heartbeat, (Get up, stand up!)
you can’t kill the heartbeat, (Don't give up the fight!)
of Mama Nature, Mama Mama Nature, (Cuz I never give up the fight!)
of Mama Nature, of Mama Nature!
* * *
Ode (To All Of You)
I know a bookseller
He’ll help you get free
He’s never looked better
at the age of 73
His wife the painter
Has eyes like oceans
She keeps the faith, yea,
they’ve got some devotion, O,
I know a teacher
She is my partner
She is a keeper
so i keep her heart near
I know a songwriter
He is a soldier
Old boy’s a survivor,
sings from the soul, yea, O,
This whole world’s full of people
and their lives are tangled up in mine
you know, they all got things to teach
I go outside my door
in the morning with a song in mind –
the poem of humanity…
I know a healer
She’ll make your soul move
You may have seen her
singin under a full moon
I know a seeker
He’s like a river
Keeps getting freer
flows where life delivers him, O,
The music mentor
The skeptical Jew,
The dreaming drummer,
me and my band, my motley crew
Then there’s my mother
Then there’s my father
And my two sisters,
my fam, I learn from all of them, O,
This whole world’s full of people
and their lives are tangled up in mine
don’t you know, we all got things to teach
I go outside my door
in the morning with a song in mind –
it’s that poem
of humanity…
Alleluia, Allelu
All of you, yea,
All of you...
* * *
On the Brink
I was thirteen in 2003
when the US bombed Iraq
It was not the first time or the last
we aimed our missile stock that way
and even then, I understood,
but couldn’t fathom why,
when powerful men want some oil
a million people die
In North Dakota, where the Sioux
have suffered centuries,
another form of genocide
is pumping oil presently
but Warriors will move to stop
these pipelines it in their tracks
cuz Natives folks are Idle No More
they’ll die fighting back
Oh, there is blood
in our banks, in our lights, in our cars,
Here we are on the brink
of extinction, like the
dinosaurs,
underground, in the oil,
that we burn, in our
lights, in our cars,
headed straight for our death,
unless…
Imagine Lady Justice
with her blindfold and her scales
On one side she’s got life on earth,
trees, mountains, oceans, mice and
whales
on the other side she’s got Big Oil
for you, Oh, wealthy men
But what will your kids inherit
if it’s all a desert then?
Oh,
there is blood
in our banks, in our lights, in our cars,
Here we are on the brink
of extinction, like the
dinosaurs,
underground, in the oil,
that we burn, in our
lights, in our cars,
headed straight for our death,
unless
unless…
The war machines are oiled up
for Armageddon III
The petrodollar’s falling
as a global form of currency
and here we are, the little folks,
with nothing left to lose,
We’ll fight for war or fight for peace
which one will you choose?
Oh,
there is blood
in our banks, in our lights, in our cars,
Here we are on the brink
of extinction, but not
like the dinosaurs,
underground, in the oil,
that we burn, in our
lights, in our cars,
headed straight for our death, unless
unless
unless…* * *
Mama
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are broken from you
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are home in you
Mama we are sorry for the suffering
we’ve brought upon
you and all the animals, the land and
the waters
running the planet for our future sons
and daughters
broken from the whole, we are sick,
hear our hearts weep,
dominating woman like we dominate the
land
worshipping a God who they say is a man
no balance of the yin / now we’ve gone
all yang
so we ask why can’t we live in sync
with Mother Nature’s plan
maybe cuz we’re separated from her is
the answer
penis-shaped skyscraper tumors of the
cancer
of patriarchy / Babylon / raping the
planet with capitalism
objectification of woman is the root
of seeing this planet as shit to loot
define feminine and masculine – fix the
two
its time to heal ourselves so we can
heal her, too
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are broken from you
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are home in you
When did we decide that the earth was
dead?
Who philosophized that, and to what
end?
Who thought it was primitive to love
your Mother,
or to live with respect for life, and
for each other?
A couple thousand years ago we made a
mistake,
A couple thousand years, I guess that’s
all that it takes
The conquerors decided Nature had no
life,
and that woman wasn’t human, just a
bitch or a wife,
and after that, it was fine for
Columbus to kill
Native Americans, after all they’re
savage and evil
and after that, slavery was just a
logical step,
and after that, racism made a lot of
sense,
Now it’s 2017 and corporations are
tyrants,
killing planet earth to make a profit
from the violence
so I’m praying for the day when all of
mankind sees
and we come crawling back on our hands
and knees to
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are broken from you
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we atone
Mama, oh oh oh,
Mama, we are home in you
* * *
Who Will Stand?
Who will stand with the man on the
corner
asking for change at the feet of the
church?
Who will stand with the children of
Flint, Michigan,
who bathed in poisoned water and
burned?
Who among you will stand with the
immigrant families,
torn from each other, kidnapped and
deported?
Who among you will stand with the
innocent Black lives,
shot down by police, locked up, beaten
and tortured, Oh,
Who will stand with the most
vulnerable?
Not with a party or political figure
Who among you will stand with the ones
deemed disposable?
Who will stand with them -- please
raise your hand.
Oh, Oh, Oh…
Who, Who, Who?
Who will stand with the trans woman on
the street,
threatened by hatred, attacked for her
flesh?
Who will stand with indigenous peoples
when fracking and oil companies poison
their land?
Who among you will stand with political
martyrs
like Mumia, Pinkney, Assata, and
Snowden?
Who among you would stand with a
modern-day Jesus --
if Christ came today, would we kill him
all over? Oh,
Who will stand with the least of my
brothers?
Not with the Caesars, Goliaths and
Cains,
Who among you will stand with those who
hunger for justice?
Who will stand with them -- raise up
your hands!
Oh, Oh, Oh…
Who, Who, Who?
Water is Life
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
No…
[El La Katrina]
As prophecy / she flows through we
It’s what you see / what do you know?
To begin / To sow / To seek / To grow
This generation rise, rise / will glow
Water flows / she knows /
The depths of our soul /
She seeps between all the cracks /
How much plastic crap in our commodified lives?
The lies that hold us back
She is our body
The people fight to be free / autonomy /
Return to the water and the land
The people stand / ready to pray /
Prosper and protect in a good way
The seeds come correct
She knows our heart
Ready for us to play our part
Oceans under attack / rivers ransacked
Do the people got her back? Lift up Life!
And water, she is, through the stress and the
strife
The stress and the strife / we must she must
we must she must / we must she must / you must
you must /
WE must / she must we must we must
we must LIVE
As prophecy / she flows through we
It’s what you see / what do you know?
To begin / To sow / To seek / To grow
This generation rise, rise / will glow
[Adam and Chorus]
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
No…
[Diana Zwinak / Poem: “My (Ghost) Town”]
My town…
Is largely unseen
Has no geographic location
But is filled with history
My town…
Is so beautiful
Like the trail of Milky Way
That the ancestors follow
To locate
Grandfather’s home,.
To find the buffalo,
To see a World filled with Life,
Where
the people eat
and are In Harmony once again.
My town…
Is quiet dirt
Piled 100 feet deep
Over more than 300 bodies murdered
for Dancing a dream of world of plenty
A world of peace
My town…
Is beautiful
Like the view of the lake from the fire pit
On the land Still owned by my friend
Archange Ouimette
No matter what 200 years
And 2 city councils
Might say.
It’s intense…
Like water cannons spraying your body
On a sub-zero night
While you pray that your children
Might have a fresh glass of water
In the morning.
It’s like…
Having your left arm shot off
By a concussion grenade
Or your eye destroyed
By a rubber bullet.
My town…
Is the view
From a third story stoop
Where I sit with my Uncle
My Grandmother,
My Grandfather/Father/mother/
& God
It’s…
Orthodox Jews
And Muslims
Who live side by side
And walking the dog after midnight
Under the golden light of the alley street
lamps
Where the dog often stops
For invisible figures
And I watch the Hasidic boys
Hurrying home from escapades
Amidst background music of Hebrew chants
Echoing off brick buildings for blocks
It’s…
Climbing the stairs,
The light tinkling of windchimes
That move in NO breeze outside my backdoor
It’s a prayer…
That our dreaming will end
Reality will prevail
That we will all see
This World filled with Life,
and the people eat and be peaceful
In Harmony
Before we are murdered
For daring to dance.
[Chorus]
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
No…
As prophecy / she flows through we
It’s what you see / what do you know?
To begin / To sow / To seek / To grow
This generation rise, rise / will glow
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet
We say Water
is Life
We face the same genocide
We pray we will survive
We say we won’t go quiet…
Kylo
Kylo says the time has come
White and red unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
Kylo says the time has come
When all races unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
Kylo smiles when he talks about the
prophecies,
Around the fire, at Standing Rock in
October, he said
It’s about life now, we’re on God’s
side, making offerings,
so it’s about time now that the tribes
unite -- that’s the final piece,
That’s the last barrier holding us back
and their first weapon in their line of
attack
and the strategy they always use is
just that tactic:
divide and conquer / pitting white
against black
feeding people on steady diet of fear
and hatred enough to wage a genocide
still here
and still the Sioux forgive; they know
uniting is the only way we’ll live
they call it the 8th fire, yea, the
last one,
the human race, Oh, we’re healing our
past,
joining the sacred council of the
nations,
bringing back the garden in this 7
generation
Kylo says the time has come
White and red unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
Kylo says the time has come
When all nations unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
Kylo says the time has come
White and red unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
Kylo says the Fire is lit
The Rainbow Tribe will carry it
Some say that’s New Age bullshit
But he says make no mistake of it
Fools Crow did pray for it
Black Elk spoke the same before him
Sitting Bull died for his kin
And now his kids are calling us in
Kylo says the time has come
When all humans unite as one
I know some call it the kingdom
He says 7th generation
* * *
(We Need) PEACE!
my people at war but they
don’t even know it so the poet’s got
some more to say
this is a propaganda battle comin for
your brain
cuz that’s the war terrain, we bout to
storm it, rain,
cuz the perfect slavery’s chainless /
the perfect traitor is blameless
the perfect racist ain’t hatred / it’s
mind enslavement: the matrix
oppression came with and stays in the
USA’s DNA
we gotta name it to change it but
corporations are faceless
we gotta wake up the nation / mental
emancipation
collective poeducation / infectious
loving vibration
we need a visualization of life with no
exploitation
human communication / we’re talkin real
reparations! We need
PEACE! What’s that? That’s a lot to ask
when every piece of our society’s a
robbery act,
where violence is the normal way of
life, a common fact,
and then on top of that, our nature’s
not in tact, we want
PEACE! What’s peace? Just a lack of
war?
but what’s that even mean when we know
what that’s actually for
is just to capture more, get a high
capital score,
so the elite keep getting richer while
they tax the poor, Hey,
ain’t THAT the War? Cuz that’s the
bigger violence.
and isn’t the one biggest war the
bigger silence
while they spout their lies to keep us
all reliant,
they keep closing public schools,
that’s more massive firings,
That’s WAR. And war is when there’s
folks on the street,
on every block holdin a cup cuz they
got nothing to eat
when there are women, children lyin,
dyin, tryin to sleep
when people keep gettin beat, locked up
and killed by police, we need
PEACE! I mean we need a whole new game
where everybody gets to eat and gets a
home to stay in,
we can finally distribute water,
clothes, education,
health care and make these basic needs
society’s basis, that’s
PEACE, we’re talking Revolution now,
cuz that seems to be the one solution,
how
else are we gonna feed the people who
computers ousted
from their food and housing, are we
human now? We want
PEACE! That means we need justice too,
that means democracy for everyone not
just a few,
so we can turn our selfish culture into
something new
I wonder could you trust in me, if I
could trust in you? cuz that’s
PEACE, and that’s the overwhelming
need,
not just lack of war but actually a
mental leap
to finally becoming that which we were
meant to be
we’re talking death and rebirth, you
best believe, we need
PEACE! Yea / We want PEACE! Yea / We
need
PEACE! Yea / We seek PEACE! Yea / We
breathe
PEACE! Yea / We are PEACE!
PEACE!
PEACE!
PEACE!
PEACE!
* * *
After Capitalism (We Will Be Free)
After capitalism, I won’t have to
market my music
or work any day job to do it
or worry about paying bills
After capitalism, your food won’t come from
California
unless you live in California
and by the way, it will be free!
In fact, me personally, I probably
won’t grow my own food
Cuz after we get rid of capitalism,
I’ll still have way too much to do!
We will be
free, la la la la!
We will be free,
ya ya ya ya!
We will be
free, Oh,
After capitalism, we’ll start being
part of our planet,
and start to remember our magic,
and eat only really good food
After capitalism, the city won’t be so
depressing
on buses we’ll all be more pleasant
cuz we won’t be so tired all the time.
No one will work in a factory, or serve
popcorn or scan things in shops
Cuz after we get rid of capitalism,
computers can do all those jobs!
We will be
free, la la la la!
We will be
free, ya ya ya ya!
We will be
free, Oh,
What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about basic needs?
What would you do with your life if you knew you were part of one
huge family?
After capitalism the people will go to
the movies
and there won’t be any commercials
and previews won’t all be the same
After capitalism, we won’t be afraid of
our neighbors
our streets won’t be filled with
policemen
we’ll work out our problems somehow
After capitalism, we’ll finally be
human beings,
cuz in a communal society, we’ll find
out what that truly means!
We will be
free, la la la la!
We will be
free, ya ya ya ya!
We will be
free, Oh!
* * *
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