Maybe Both, 1865 - Sho Baraka, Amisho Baraka Lewis

It was hard to hear over the gunshots

Running round back and forth

And then he said

He said

I’m looking for a happy ending

I said, «We never had happy beginnings»

I’m on my knees, I’m praying, I’m on my knees

But, now I’m an easy target for them to attack me

Liberals and intellectuals justifying my anger

But when the cameras ain’t here, they ain’t no where near

Oh, so eloquent, watch them pontificate

When the smoke clears, the blogs re-build real estate

You sitting in your academic tower

Tweeting around the hour while the poor fights the power

Oh stop it, oh stop it, you and your non-profit

With a heart full of promise based on bad economics

Put your ballot in the air, pull out a lighter, then burn it

We just giveaway votes, make them Democrats earn it

Politicians don’t care cuz' they don’t see a need

They won’t care till we bleed on the same concrete

We burning down the neighborhoods where we live at

If we don’t own it, well let’s do something to change that

It didn’t change Watts, it ain’t doing much now

Watch the philosophers argue while Rome burns down

Bang, bang, bang

Bang, bang, bang

Reload the gun, they gon' do the same thing

Bang, bang, bang

Bang, bang, bang

Reload the gun, they gon do the same thing

Is it a ballot or a bullet?

Let me know

Should I fight or should I pray?

Who’s my foe?

Are they killing with a pistol or a vote?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Maybe, both

Why stop now?

I haven’t caught the holy ghost yet

Sing a little louder, we can drown out the protests

We build an antebellum, they too busy to listen

I hear disturbing things come from so-called «Christians»

Quick to justify your man’s death

Because of a criminal record or how a man dressed

Thugs I guess, only perfect people get grace

If that was the Lord’s way, there’ll be no one in the faith

True flaw, America kills and hides behind the law

They purchase this land with violence, but never count the cost

Put a dollar to your ear, you can hear the moaning of a slave

America the great was built off the labor that they gave

Jefferson and Washington were great peace pursuers

But, John Brown was a terrorist and an evil doer

Oh yes, God bless the American Revolution

But, God ain’t for all the riots and the looting

Bang, bang, bang

Bang, bang, bang

Reload the gun, they gon' do the same thing

Bang, bang, bang

Bang, bang, bang

Reload the gun, they gon do the same thing

Is it a ballot or a bullet?

Let me know

Should I fight or should I pray?

Who’s my foe?

Are they killing with a pistol or a vote?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Or, maybe, it is both?

Maybe, both

Before another man dies

And another mom cries

The people ask why?

Keep yo' head to the sky

Another man dies and another man cries

Lord, hear em' cry

He said, «Stop, don’t pull it»

Wait a minute, a ballot or a bullet?

What’s your standard?

Where you stand?

What’s your views?

What gives you the right to the think the way that you do?

Is it school?

Is it news?

Is it man’s wisdom?

Is it religion?

Why listen when you can make your own decisions?

It’s funny how some people see the Lord

Some see him as a pacifist

Some see him with a sword

The Lord who hated sin showed grace to the thief

Saved the lonely prostitute from being stoned in the street

He was holy, but he hung with the sinful

Drove out the wicked by flipping over tables in the temple

He took a wrongful death, yet he remained silent

But, he said he coming back, and he is bringing violence

Many people isolate him just to make him fit their cause

Never too involved in a greater context at all

So, are there two christs totally unrelated

Or, maybe there’s one Christ, and he’s pretty complicated

Huh?

Pretty complicated

Or, maybe it is both

Maybe, it is both

Maybe, both

Yo, it’s Travis

Hey man, it’s Friday morning

I’ve been meaning to call you

I’d love to get your take on some of these things

I’ve been thinking more and more about the issues

And I think it would be good to hear what you think

I’m trying to make sense of some things

And, I wanna make sure I have a better picture of what’s going on

So, let’s meet

Call me back and we’ll make it happen in the schedule

Take care man

Bye