Our Worst Enemy

Displaced from home and brought across the seas

Disgraced and exploited for prophet and greed

Forced into slave labor to supply their master’s needs

Though some did escape… most just hung from trees

Nine lashes with the whip… then just left their to bleed

Denied the opportunity just to learn how to read

It’s no wonder they risked life and limb just to be freed

President Lincoln supposedly provided the key

Merely a tactic used so the South wouldn’t succeed

And when finally we were freed

We were introduced to the kind of people that Jim Crow breeds

Now even more we’re hanging from trees

Because of the contempt some people keep

Solidarity arose because there was a need for unity

Demonstrations… really peaceful situations… were met with hostility

Separate facilities were provided for our needs

Separate water fountains were provided for us to drink

A King arose because someone needed to lead

Following in the path made by former leaders' feet

The FBI seemed to erase a kingdom by killing it's Kings

Deaths shrouded in conspiracy

But that Kingdom is not completely deceased

It lies within the pride of which our grandparents speak

The path they traveled was forged from the calluses on their feet

They were the ones in the Black Panther party

They were the subjects of an FBI sting

COINTELPRO was designed to destroy them in the streets

Flooded us with cocaine and crack... meant to destroy our communities

We legally fight them with the NAACP

For the uplifting of our people is truly necessary

Social and political sabotage instituted empirically

Our right to vote is not really a right you see

The Lyndon Johnson Act makes it only temporary

Scheduled for a re vote next year when Congress reconvenes

Just leads me to believe, socially and politically

That we're still held on a very long leash

As a people we did make strides towards equality

It seems only to be met with a more subtle racist mentality

And there are still places where we STILL hang from trees

We're not exactly helping our cause either... you see

There is no unity within the Black community

And the younger generation? They live by a different creed

Only out for self... motivated by making money

Not that I blame them but they act and they don't think

Fueled by sin under the mask of virtue... that is pure insanity

No hopes... no dreams... no goals it seems

Sports and entertainment have given them opportunity

But behind the scenes THEY somehow seem to pull the strings

Throw millions in the laps of kids... give them the key to their dreams

Throw them on the world stage to shine ever so brightly

Their lives in the hands of men that just use them to make money

Another alternative is the processed derivative of the coca leaf

Which only leads you down two parallel streets

One leads to the penitentiary

The other to the cemetery