Songtext All of us Talib Kweli

All of us

We have nothing to lose but our chains
Now you say that - so loud them - outside hear you
It is our duty to fight for our freedom
It is our duty to win
We must love and support each other
We have nothing to lose
We have nothing to lose
We have nothing to lose but our chains

Send this one out to
To the mothers they neglected
To the fathers they rejected
To the sisters disrespected
To the brothers unprotected
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
We send this one out to
To the mothers they deceited
To the fathers they mistreated
To the sisters they misleaded
To the brothers and get beated
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
This is happening to all of us
If our struggle is a strain then the strain is dominant
My name is prominent for entertainment that's laced with consciousness
But really its just common sense like Lonnie Lynn
You don't need binoculars to see the light coming through the dome like it's an oculus
The common myth that we're savages with no history or accomplishments
Or knowledge of ourselves they did a job on us
Considering the prediction of economists
Machines will do our jobs for us
The future for the working class is ominous
They got us indoctrinated through a brew
A religion mixed in with abuse
Emotional we sit in pews
It's physical we get the noose
And hang ourselves refusing to name ourselves
Refuse to change ourselves
When I talk about our past it doesn't ring a bell
They make you hate yourself it take effort so check the method
They'll take you from your family, your kids will never respect you
Attach your sins to the black of skin we get the message
We start acting if we cracking the whip better than the oppressor ,yes
Every problem can't be solved at the ballot box
We unifying Africa like Gaddafi that's what got Malcolm shot
They out to stop anybody with knowledge that figured out the plot
On the balcony like Martin Luther King I been to the mountaintop
The blue wall of silence, it's really the blue wall of violence
The good cops who retire and get fired
They screaming black on black as an excuse for you to not care
Till the cops roll up in their SWAT gear

I tarried through the turbulent month of Ramadan
Sweating all through the night just like the Holy Prophet
Then reappeared on the stage in BK with the Ummah
Shoulder to shoulder with J Cole and Kweli
Just before Jehovah the God crowned me the king with his goldie locket
Alhamdulillah, we've come really far, ain't it?
The little engine who could, could power any car can't it?
The mothers in Chiraq say the murders getting burdensome
The cries of the despised was heard flying out of Ferguson
The last days and times
The holy Quran and Bible we on the last page and line
The verse with all the babies dying
Outside of the matrix, inside of the spaceship but the savior's blind
Or so it seems, years after Noah was told he would row upstream
The heavens bursted and the rains came
Retaliation for the sons of the fathers who worked the chain gangs
I hit that shmoney dance on the coffin of a crooked cop
In a Worldstar society where all we do is look and watch
No intervention, policemen beating elderly women with evil intentions on the highways and the byways
The police state be sprayed into the backstreet to the driveways
Officer friendly is an enemy now, looking at me sideways
It was all bad just a week ago
The view was just as sad just a peep ago
The cries of the asiatic ancient-semitic peoples that propel Jay Elec from the pedestal to the steeple

To the mothers they neglected
To the fathers they rejected
To the sisters disrespected
To the brothers unprotected
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
We send this one out to
To the mothers they deceited
To the fathers they mistreated
To the sisters they misleaded
To the brothers and get beated
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
This is happening to all of us

To the mothers they neglected
To the fathers they rejected
To the sisters disrespected
To the brothers unprotected
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
We send this one out to
To the mothers they deceited
To the fathers they mistreated
To the sisters they misleaded
To the brothers and get beated
All of us, all of us, all of us, all of us
This is happening to all of us

We've got to live, live to the end
(We gotta do, we do)
We've got to live, (for our grandmothers) live to the end
(and granddaddies too)
We've got to live, (live for the babies) live to the end
(my brothers out there going crazy)