13th Page #12

of black folks filed past

and see this young boy

who had been killed

by white supremacists in the South.

To publish those photographs

in black publications

so the entire black world, like

our Facebook or our Twitter now, right?

So that the whole black world

could see what had happened.

In the 1950s, Dr. King

and the civil rights movement

used television in this way.

"Look, this is what segregation

looks like.

These are dogs attacking children.

These are people being fire hosed."

Searching for the medium of technology,

that will confirm your experience

such that your basic humanity

can be recognized.

The difference now is

somebody can hold up one of these,

get what's going on.

They can put it on YouTube,

and the whole world has to deal with it.

That's what's new.

It's not the protest.

It's not the brutality.

It's the fact that we can force

a conversation about it.

We have been consistently been murdered

as a result of police aggression.

They generally would excuse it

by calling us criminals.

When they was killing Oscar Grant...

When they got to Eric Garner...

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

Everyone pointed out

that he was saying,

"I can't breathe.

I can't breathe."

But the sentences before that were,

"Why are you always stopping me?

Why is it, day in and day out,

week in and week out, you're stopping me?"

And that, I think, is hugely important.

When we think about the children

who were killed at the hands of the state,

I think about Tamir Rice at 12 years old,

and the way that he was killed,

you know, it hits my heart.

Go ahead and take

your seat belt off. Stop. Stop!

You good?

- Roll on your stomach. Now!

- Stop fighting!

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

- Oh, sh*t.

He shot me, man. I was shot.

He didn't do sh*t.

You didn't.

- I'm losing breath.

- F*** your breath.

Stay with me.

We got pulled over

for a busted taillight in the back.

Police violence,

that isn't the problem

in and of itself.

It's reflection of a much larger,

brutal system

of racial and social control

known as mass incarceration,

which authorizes

this kind of police violence.

That's why, for me,

the brilliance of Black Lives Matter...

They have a distributed leadership model.

You can't find their address.

I mean, Black Lives Matter

is not a stoppable phenomenon,

by a bullet or anything else.

And so, there's hope there

because of that.

Having people truly understand

that when black lives matter,

everybody's life matters,

including every single person

that enters this criminal justice system

and this prison industrial complex.

It's not just even about

only black lives, right?

It's about changing the way

this country understands human dignity.

That's what, really,

this Black Lives Matter moment is about.

This question of whose life

do we recognize as valuable?

The opposite of criminalization

is humanization.

That's the one thing I hope

that people will understand.

It's about rehumanizing us,

as a people,

and us, right, as a people,

all of us.

The system of mass incarceration

has grown,

and sprawled and developed an appetite

that is gobbling up people

in communities of all colors.

But if it hadn't been for the fact

that it began with a group of people

defined by race,

that we as a nation

have learned not to care about,

we wouldn't be talking about

two million people behind bars today.

People say all the time,

"I don't understand how people

could've tolerated slavery.

How could they have made peace with that?

How could people have gone to a lynching

and participated in that?

How did people make sense

of the segregation,

this white and colored-only drinking...

That's so crazy.

If I was living at that time, I would

have never tolerated anything like that."

And the truth is, we are living

at this time, and we are tolerating it.

Southern leaves

Southern trees we hung from

Barren souls

Heroic songs unsung

Forgive them, Father

They know this knot is undone

Tied with the rope

That my grandmother dyed

Pride of the pilgrims

Affect lives of millions

Since slave day

Separatin' fathers from children

Institution ain't just a building

But a method

Of having black and brown bodies

Fill them

We ain't seen

As human beings with feelings

Will the US ever be us, Lord willing?

For now we know the new Jim Crow

The stop search and arrest our souls

Police and policies

Patrol philosophies of control

A cruel hand taking hold

We let go to free them

So we can free us

America's moment to come to Jesus

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom come

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

The cage bird sings

For freedom in the ring

Black bodies bein' lost

In the American Dream

Blood of black being a pastoral scene

Slavery's still alive

Check Amendment 13

Now whips and chains are subliminal

Instead of nigga

They use the word criminal

Sweet land of liberty

Incarcerated country

Shot me with your Reagan

And now you wanna Trump me

Prison is a business

America's the company

Investing in injustice, fear

And long suffering

We're staring in the face

Of hate again

The same hate they say

Will make America great again

No consolation prize

For the dehumanized

For America to rise

Is a matter of black lives

And we gonna free them

So we can free us

America's moment to come to Jesus

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom come

Yeah

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Won't be long

Freedom come

Freedom

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Won't be long

Freedom come

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Won't be long

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Freedom

Won't be long

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Hold on

Freedom

Won't be long

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Won't be long

Freedom come

Freedom

Freedom come

Freedom come

Hold on

Hold on

Won't be long

Won't be long

Won't be long

Oh, freedom

Won't be long

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