No Justice (For Political Prisoners) [feat. Meshell Ndegeocello]

American carelessness

My name is Assata Shakur

We have been subjected to the dehumanizing power of exploitation and racism for hundreds of years

Based on their false accusations against me, any police officers could shoot me on sight

National and local police agencies created a situation

If you believe in human rights, then you have to believe in the liberation of all people

American carelessness

I would receive no justice

And in spite of the fact that they were physically completely suppressed, in a physical sense,

Their demeanor when they entered the courtroom that day was not for a moment going to resign themselves to that situation they were in

Only reflect that the racist attitude of the general power structure, and I haven't received a fair trial

American carelessness

This kind of thing has to not only be exposed but has to be answered for

And in order to achieve, they'd have to be twice as good as whites

Assata Shakur

Carelessness

 

Assata represents the strength and the spirit

The racist legal system in the United States

I would receive no justice

No justice

No justice

The dehumanizing power of exploitation and racism for hundreds of years

American carelessness

It was about 96 97

A sponsored trip to Cuba

Amazing memory of mine

I went with my friend Kofi who suggested we reach out to Assata

And we did

She was gracious enough to invite us to dinner

Assata, fearless black woman, fugitive

She successfully defied the US government

She was able to exist beyond their reach

Beyond the reach of American power

That's huge, so few people have done that

I become transparent

She remains a symbol of freedom

She's more than a mother or a wife

She's a warrior, a woman soldier

Allusive, fire, alive

A legend, a mythical legend

A fearless black woman

Let us remember Leonard Peltier

Only one thing sadder than remembering you were once free

And that's forgetting that you were once free

Let us remember Mumia Abu-Jamal

If there could be a Black revolution

Prison is a second by second assault on the soul

A day to day degradation of the self

An oppressive steel and brick umbrella that transforms seconds into hours and hours into days

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Assata Shakur said,

Nobody in the world (nobody)

Nobody in history

Has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who are oppressing them

Nobody in the world

Nobody in history

Has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who are oppressing them

It's our duty to fight for our freedom

It is our duty to win

We must love each other, and support each other

We have nothing to lose

(coming into the courtroom chained and shackled)

But our chains

With chains all over their bodies, reminiscent of slavery

You're listening to Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science

Communicating comments, thoughts, and prayers

By the captive ones, political prisoners in cages

In the land of the so called free

This is your host, from imprison nation,

Mumia Abu-Jamal