I Am A Man (American Justice)

[Malcolm X]
The police the same way; they put their club upside your head and then turn around and accuse you of attacking them. Every case of police brutality against the Negro follows the same pattern...

[Verse 1: J-Live]
I tell you what, I pledge allegiance to the people not the flag
The flag’ll never represent the people ’til we all considered equal
In the еyes of the law, rich or poor, officers kill Blacks with no rеmorse
Then ask what we bitchin’ for
And wonder why the innocent ain’t even snitchin for ’em
You just as dangerous as criminals, so pick your poison
Part of the problem that refuses to relate
Turn the hood to a trap, very few can escape
Like the word that precedes it - neighbor
But if it ain’t the cops, it’s somebody else’s neighborhood watch
As the money turns your block from hot to the new hot spot
Now it’s someone else’s neighborhood
Watch how police get along with them
The storm troopers think the whole hood is truant unless it’s affluent
But even if you’re fluent in the language of the law
With stacks of greenbacks, you can’t reply or buy out the fact
If you’re Black, there’s a target on your back
Your front, your side, they’ll blow down your front door
Where you reside, air out your ride
Whether hooptie or coupe, your hoodie or your suit
You’re ugly or you’re cute
A dentist or his son with a scholarship to hoop
Colin Powell or Snoop
Hands on the steering wheel, thrown for a loop
Hands up, wallet out, screaming “Don’t shoot!”
Without even so much as an oops
Armed to the teeth like troops, fully automatic
Patrolling the war zone that we call home
Unless I’m breaking the law, leave me the fuck alone

[Huey P. Newton]
In America, Black people are treated very much as the Vietnamese people, or any other colonized people. Because we’re used, we’re brutalized. The police in our community occupy our area - our community - as a foreign troop occupies territory. And the police are there not to - in our community - not to promote our welfare or our security, our safety. But they’re there to contain us, to brutalize us, and murder us. Because they have their orders to do so

[Verse 2: J-Live]
How you gonna serve and protect
A beat on a street that you don’t even respect?
Blaming the neglect on the neglected
Confounding the cause for the affected
Children, women, and men subjected
To stop and frisk, puts pride and lives at risk
Heartbeats on pause, if not stop
And probable cause is probably ‘cause we Black and y’all cops
No apologies, but apologists say not all police - shh…please!
When you’re treated less than human by a beast
It doesn’t matter if it’s the whole beast or nothing but the beast
If it’s systemic, pandemic
And you don’t even have the decency to condemn it
Goddamn it, good constable
If I was hiding behind the same shield I should feel responsible
But when a Black child of God is dead and you’re dead wrong
Why you only able to respond defensive?
For beating the defenseless senseless
When we mourn and protest, pursuit is relentless
But what about pursuit of justice?
What happened to the people versus?
When it's police vs. people like us
Victims are discussed with disdain and disgust
Fear, hate, and distrust
Hard to win hearts and minds
When you lose ’em and you break ’em at the same damn time
How many hearts and minds and bodies are confined
Just for being indicted of the same exact crime?
But can’t afford the kind of defense
That’s unionized, weaponized and never repents
The standards are doubled like sentences
Like what the 4th, 8th, and 13th Amendment is?
Did you forget? ‘Cause the facts don’t add up to the stats
When the deck and the dice and the dealer is loaded and stacked
So when I say I am a Black man
Or simply I am a man, you had me at Black

[Huey P. Newton]
The police in our community couldn’t possibly be there to protect our property because we own no property. They couldn’t possibly be there to see that we receive the due process of law for the simple reason that the police themselves deny us the due process of law. And so it’s very apparent that the police are only in our community, not for our security, but the security of the business owners in the community. And also to see that the status quo is kept intact

[Malcolm X]
They attack the victim, and then the criminal who attacked the victim accuses the victim of attacking him. This is American justice. This is American democracy. And those of you who are familiar with it know that in America democracy is hypocrisy