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