Gather Round

[Verse 1: Brother Ali] Ain’t no stopping the calling, I’m a warrior scholar With the pad and the pen or with the sword and the chopper Look at how far I got if you lost I could guide you In between two extremes like Safa and Marwa In the desert like Bedouins in search of water Except we’re thirsting for power up in the urban drama Every day our sons and daughters are led to the slaughter Indoctrinated by a complacent social order Decapitated they’re trying to cut our jugular vain That’s the sacred lifeline from the heart to the brain Make us blind to mankind’s suffering pain Ugliness worldwide that’s done in our name So the only thing we’re seeing is what we can gain Precious blood shed in vain and nothing is changed Drugged up in the daze in a comfortable maze Upscale slaves in luxury cages [Hook: Brother Ali] But the weak keep crying and the innocent dying And these are the times when the real freedom fighters gather ‘round I said the cities catch fire and the flames grow higher And the poor and the pious get inspired and decide to gather ‘round When the times get dire and the mighty are liars And the righteous fighting for their life get organized and gather ‘round When the prophets are silenced and the tyrants are giants And David sets his sights on Goliath and we finally gather ‘round [Verse 2: Brother Ali] Hostile environment locked in a conflict Wandering lost in an impossible climate Boxed in confinement democracy hostage Bound for the towers monsters in the cockpit Following blind unconscious accomplice Judged by time indicted for our silence Couple years ago I made a statement Can’t figure a single Goddamn way to change it As of late I made adjustments to my language Numbers are the only thing the people gain strength in If we’re going to change we got to step up our relations Got to see our own selves in each other’s faces Share each other’s spaces give each other room And hear each other’s pain bare witness to the truth And the ground gets holy when the ground is stood And the goods may odd but the odds are good [Hook] [Verse 3] “That is why I challenge you now to stand together. Because together we’ve got Power and we can make decisions.” [Amir Sulaiman] Justice… Is somewhere in between reading sad poems and 40 ounces of gasoline crashing Through windows Justice… Is between plans and action Between writing letters to congressmen and clapping a captain Between raising legal defense funds and putting a gun on the bailiff and taking the Judge captive It is between prayer and fasting Between burning and blasting Freedom… Is between the mind and the soul It is between the lock and the load Between the zeal of the young and the patience of the old Freedom… Is between the finger and the trigger It is between the page and the pen Between the grenade and the pin Between righteous anger and keeping one in the chamber So I say down with Goliath I say down with Goliath But we must learn, know, write, read We must kick, bite, yell, scream We must pray, fast, live, dream, fight, kill and die Free