"I Have A Dream"
by Martin Luther King, Jr,
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on
August 28, 1963.
How is Americas Black
population still suffering in the 1960’s?
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed
the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light
of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering
injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one
hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the
manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later,
the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the
corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning
of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a
table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a
desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be
transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of
their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new
meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land
where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let
freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So
let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring
from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of
Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only
that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from
Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill
of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet,
from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of
God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Tupac Shakur
‘The Way it Is…’
1990
I see no changes I wake up in the morning and I ask myself Is life worth living or
should I blast myself I'm tired of being poor and even worse I'm black My stomach
hurts so I'm looking for a purse to snatch Cops give a damn about a negro Pull a
trigger kill a nigga he's a hero Givin' crack to the kids who the hell cares One less
hungry mouth on the welfare Worship dope let 'em deal the brotha's Give 'em guns
step back watch them kill each other It's time to fight back that's what Hewie
said 2 shots in the dark now Hewie's dead I got love for my brotha But we could
never go nowhere unless we share with each other We gotta start making changes
Learn to see me as a brotha instead of 2 distant strangers And that's how it's
supposed to be
How can anotha' take a brotha' if he's close to me I love to go back to when we
played as kids But things changed - that's the way it is Chorus: That's just the
way it is Things will never be the same That's just the way it is Oh yeah That's
just the way it is Things will never be the same That's just the way it is Oh yeah
I see no changes All I see is racist faces Misplaced hate makes disgraced the
races We under I wonder what it takes to make this One better place let's erase
the wasted Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right Cause both black
and white are smokin' crack tonight And the only time we chill is when we kill each
other It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other And I know it seems
evident we aint ready To see a black president It ain't a secret don't conceal the
facts up penitentiary back And it's filled with blacks But some things will never
change
Try to show another way, but you're staying in the dope game Now tell me what's a mother
to do Being real to the deal to the brotha in you You gotta operate the easy way "I made a
G today" But you made it in a sleazy way Selling crack to the kids "I gotta get paid" Well
hey Well that's the way it is
Chorus We gotta make a change It's time for us as a people to start making some changes
Let's change the way we eat Let's change the way we live And let's change the way we
treat each other You see the old way wasn't working so it's on Us to do what we gotta
do...to survive And still I see no changes Can't a brotha get a little peace, it's war in the
Streets and the war in the middle east Instead of war on the poverty, they got a war On
drugs so the police can bother me And I ain't never did a crime I ain't had to do But now
I'm back with the facts giving it back to you Don't let them jack you up, back you up, crack
you up, And pimp slap you up You gotta learn to hold your own They gettin' jealous when
they see you with your mobile phone But tell the cops they can't touch this I don't trust
this when they try to rush I bust this That's the sound of my 2 But they say it and cool
And my momma didn't raise no fool And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped And I
never get to lay back Cause I always gotta worry about the payback Something rough that I
roughed up way back Coming back after all those years Ratta tat tat tat tat That's the way
it is Chorus Some things never change