How much does it cost
To buy your way out?
Living in America
As a drop out
When freedom’s on sale
it makes me want to shout!
Two million locked up,
Yup, that’s wassup
He hopes to be home
Feels so alone
Encaged in his cell
He feels like hell
So God he tells
But still no bail
His skin gettin’ pale
His family he failed
Locked in jail
All you got is mail
So many have failed
On the three strikes line
Don’t be blind
While you listen to the rhyme
Find the signs
that make the poor bleed
Is it rules and greed
That create the need
When a cop says freeze
Get down on your knees!
A mother believes,
I hear so many screams
As the soul is squeezed
Again we deceived
Led to believe
in a money making scheme
Another human being
in a nightmarish dream…..
He dreams beyond these grey walls
He dreams island water falls coming out of television screen
His soul flies free through cement ceilings
And cold bars despite ancestral body slowly decaying
There is a Pinoy
In San Quenton State Pen.
Who did not know
That 31 years later
He would still be locked up
In America’s hole
Reflecting a mestizo
Yet 100% Pilipino pride
His anger kept inside
He used many brothaz to hide
The 1970’s barkada syndrome
Mixed with America’s racial warfare
Brought gangs, violence and the law
Into nanay and tatay’s home
They were the toughest Filipino gang
In San Francisco
Generations can be traced
Back to the homeland Philippines
B.N.G.- Bahala Na Gang
Give it to God
So let it be
For all eternity
A generation of Pilipino youth
Socialized in the ghettos of Manila
Socialized in Philippine provinces
Now Socialized in U.S. streets
As menaces to society
The heart beat was raging
In an indigenous craze
In ancient times,
These youth would be the brave warriors of the tribe!
So the gang, the barkada
Brought this indigenous rage
To modern reason
Disenfranchised youth started believing
They were a part of something higher than themselves,
Higher than the intolerant forces
That were belittling their looks,
Their accents,
Their sense of being.
But with guns, drugs and a lack of guidance,
The family turned to tragedy
Drowning in the corruption
Of America’s devious suction
of youthful energy and intelligence
…BANG, BANG…
Someone dead
…SLAM, SLAM…
A coffin in the dirt
And a Pinoy in San Quneton State Pen.
Realizing it all wasn’t worth shit!
So 31 years later
He’s still alive,
Went through street and prison rumbles,
5 foot 3 possessing the heart of a lion
To still be left standing
He works with the Squires program
O.G. lifers guiding the new wave of young
And locked up casualties of America’s
on-going domestic war
He teaches them about spirituality
And encourages their rehabilitation
Through hard work and education
He didn’t have an elder growing up,
So now he’s an elder despite being locked up
Free Julius, so he can finally go home
with his family and community
(All Rights Reserved. Copyrighted Material. kilusan1898)
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