| {Mumia Abu-Jamal]:
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| Slavery is back. |
| In fact it was never abolished. |
| The 13th Amendment to the US
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| Constitution abolished slavery. |
| Except in prison
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| At. |
| The current rate of incarceration. |
| By the year 2010 the majority of all
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| African American men between 18 and 40 will be in prison. |
| The State as their
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| captor
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| It’s gonna take people who are willing to fight
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| Not people who wanna negotiate with the enemy
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| Prison, prison, prison, prison
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| The pits of life contain men
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| Where reform and discipline unlabeled enslaved men
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| From rights of passage to stacking arraignments
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| To sporting the iron bars disgracing the pavements
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| It’s just like cavemen from the pages of myth
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| Cohabiting in darkness while we wallow in filth
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| Generations of jewels who trickle down to abyss
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| As blood stains these prisons like the pyramid glyphs
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| Guilty or innocent agents of government
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| Treat our hoods like pickin grounds (schools to tenements)
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| All sag in uniform as thugs they represent
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| Racial stereotypes a profile for the oppressed
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| When you witness genocide everyday you get the hint
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| That the ghettos are cold like a lab experiment
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| As young women and men street hustle before they’re ten
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| Graduating from juvenile halls then up the river to the
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| Prison, prison, prison, prison
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| (Christian Scott solo)
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| Fear and oppression plague generation next
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| The house of regret locks down our street vets
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| Regroup and repair we lost sight of our mission
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| With honor we ride for justice we must remain out the
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| Prison, prison, prison, prison
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| (Christian Scott solo)
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| We trade wisdom for greed, we trade light for wealth
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| Fools wait for lock down to find knowledge of self
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| I bang hard on the left I never fiend for cream
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| If you borrow you owe it, if you take it you know you’re goin to the prison
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| The penalty for criminal states
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| If you’re herb or bird man you’re steady runnin from jakes
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| I circle with street soldiers that build and plant stakes
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| Free the land from Babylon my skills educate
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| In these United Snakes cause there’s no debate
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| With these restrictions of law makes us communists of hate
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| New world of new focus the streets need to deal with new purpose
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| The eldership is lacking the cirus of guidance it’s deep
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| The prison state of mind will have you dead in the street yelling P.I.M.P
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| If you’re stressed fake playa cards to rest
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| Tell youths to stay in school research and manifest
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| Avoid
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| Slave ways from the whip to the gauge
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| From streets to the cage we stand judged cloak and dagger
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| Let twelve heads decide if you keep you’re street swagger
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| Or be between bars as this crazed world gets madder
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| Come and heed funkin' lesson wise dome the mad hatter
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| Rock an onk off my dome cause I deal with life matters
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| It’s straight genocide of my people and what’s sadder
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| We bake devil’s pie and put our heads in the batter
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| Prison, prison, prison, prison |