Siege Mentality

My brother the Black Man

Has always had a hand

In the growth of my siege mentality

Brought on by the finality

Of understanding the truth

Without the need for proof

To show what’s for real

Or to seal the deal

Now I see why

My brother the Black Man

Has always lived in a land

Whose reality for all to see

Is the ever-present siege mentality

From sea to shining sea

Black people have always been under siege

By the powers that be

Tryin’ to keep my brother the Black Man

From ever being free

But from my brother the Black Man

The message is bloody clear

That is, that we must get together

And persevere

And become more collectively clever

At playing the game

Gimme’ the money, fuck the fame

Since 9/11 I have learned this lesson

Increasingly, I have begun to adapt it

To my day to day

Keeping my mind in the throes

Of my new siege mentality

Giving me new angles of mental clarity

Which’ll keep me safely away

From the Department of Homeland Security

And its Republican agenda

That’s the goal of the plan

Initiated by Nat Turner and the other great ghosts

Of my brother the Black Man