The Voice of the Anti-Imperialist Movement from

Under Lock & Key

Got a keyboard? Help type articles, letters and study group discussions from prisoners. help out
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Am Not!

I am not a murderer
yet i am not free
I am not alone in this struggle
Just solitary
I’m not ever going to putt or give up
Like my blood kin have done
on themselves and me
I’m not racist, but I’m white
but I find no pride in the latter
or excuses in the former
I am not religious
Science has proven evolution
Therefore I’m atheist
What’s your excuse?
I am not some scholar or martyr
Just a man skating on the edges of insanity
Because of my country
And its ‘cruel world’ hypocrisy
I’m the person lifting and dropping this pen
but these words aren’t just mine
I am not alone in this emotion
I’m not!
not ever
going to accept this system
I’ll fight it to my death (I swear!)
and gratefully
I am not you
I am not an Amerikkkan
And I will never ever be

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Heed the Call

To fight oppression
We advocate secession
Lest we fall, we unite
And stand tall
We’re wise
We heed the call
To revolt, in mass
All or one, one for all
To fight oppressor class
Procrastination long past
Now their reign
It won’t last
Oppression we slew
Liberation, in full view
Through wrong
We’re made strong
Mass movement
Brings vast improvement
We study in group
We unite in troup
We are cadre
Benevolent, your padre
Heed to call
Together let’s stand
Alone, we stumble, then fall
Heed the Call
chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Struggle from Within

As I contemplate my situation, I
tend to be blinded by the darkness at
the end of the tunnel
No light, no hope, no future.
The only future I can see is the
life behind bars; under the thumb
of corrupt administrators. One man
against injustices that I see, fit for
no man.

Everyone sees it, but doesn’t respond.
Just giving into their own destruction.
Not a fight in them. No struggle, no
sacrifices. Content in their situation.
Do me how you want to do me attitudes.
No progress, no future.
Free education. They don’t get it. Power
in numbers, they don’t use it. Unity, its
non-existent.

We can’t let this discourage us. There is
light, there is hope. All it takes is a little
struggle, sacrifice, and unity.
Never underestimate your power.

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Stuck

Stuck in the muck
Alone
because the economic system
fosters individualism
assuring that no one gives a
fuck
about others
unless it’s to make a
buck

Like a game of duck duck goose
but once chosen before it can rise
the goose is snatched by a
noose
After waiting so long
being oppressed by the strong
the mind
grew
strong

And the goose sick of the muck
purified through applying
dialectics to history
dethroned metaphysics
and mystery
grew strong as a moose
cut self from the noose
and taught others
who also began to care
and life was no longer about a
buck
nor games like
duck duck goose

Rather humynity
and communism
and people
all choosing at once
the common good
and the resolving of
contradictions

So that no one’s
stuck in the
muck

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Hold You Back


I was brought here on a boat, took away from my kind
They had me shackled in some chains, but couldn’t lock up my mind
Stripped me of the vision, and told me follow the blind
I gave ’em blood sweat tears, and they ain’t give me a dime

They wanna see me in a cage, and wouldn’t allow me to vote
I’ts cold sweat and nightmares of my neck in a rope
I see they took away my job, and replace it with dope
Assassinate the revolution and replace it with hope

No more Black Panthers, cops flood the strip
And the cars plus jewels, turn to chains and whips
Just a slave to the game, with the name of pimps
Rebloodicans at war with the democrats

They wanna stop all the crime? Who told you that?
No jobs, no schools, no control’n that
Sending troops thru your land, who showed you that
The same person selling’ dreams, that a hold you back

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry] [ULK Issue 48]
expand

Pharaoh Obama

Solitary Supermax has become me
Senses numbed, mind gone crazy
Losing it, lost it, am lost
Freedom you say? How much does it cost?
May I pay in this sweat drip from my brow
Years alone or my tired soul? You must tell me how
But don’t even whisper, “Accept the way this system is”
Not a chance you greedy imperialistic pigs
Open the Mexican border, leave the Middle East alone
Downsize these concentration camps, let my people go!
Money, money, that’s all you’re about
Amerikkka’s guilty, the gavel comes down.
chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Class in Session

Class is in, I’ll tell you what’s a fuckin sin
Niggers don’t know nothing about their history
Ancestors who sacrificed everything is a mystery
If you need education, here comes true emancipation
Lincoln’s a liar, he did not set you free
Toussaint scared these cowards with that move in Haiti
Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth
Ida B. Wells ministering to the youth
Found nowhere in his-story lesson
I’m Rap Educated, class in session
Turn my mic up so I can inform my brothers + sisters onh onh
Gang niggers beefing with gang niggers
While these white folks continue to hang niggers
Merck slang 40 tons of cocaine niggers
Only ones on the chain gang niggers
My neighbor my brother, the oppressor the enemy
I ain’t falling for the lies of the frienemy
I’m equip with the trigger, know when to pull it
Acquire the target, release the bullet
Down the puppetmaster goes
He looked surprised, didn’t know I knows
Revolutionary rapper, I’m a Garveyite
Don’t fuck with Columbus or his knights
All niggers on this correction bus
They use some of you to fuck over the rest of us
Oppressorman, I’m on to your flimflam
No longer can you get me to kill my brother man
But I will slay an entire nation of you
Cut down your family tree, your boys in blue
They be your army, assigned to try to harm me
I know about your puppets in black robes and dark suits
The courthouse your slave auction stage where you collect the loot
I’m a show these true soldiers how to salute
Grab your gat, put on your boots
There’s a war, you’re the troops
Knock Willie Lynch head for a loop
Gather their info, let me help you stack dough
Let my people go, or face the wrong end of this 4-4
Harm one of yours, we downing ten of yours
Including our homies behind your prison doors
We are not your grandfather’s slave
Can’t brainwash me into my own grave
Kill off our men so you can conquer our women
Your bible teaches rape the children
On the hunt for your Y chromosomes, extinction of the oppressor it’s on
You a Goon, run up in their home
Home invaaassiiinnn, hit ’em in the chest make it cave in
Hunt for the oppressor’s Y chromosomes, exterminate until it’s all gone
Exterminate until it’s all gone. Exterminate until it’s all gone!
chain
[Rhymes/Poetry] [Idaho]
expand

The Mirror

Look at yourself, are you capitalistic?
Do you wake up, look in the mirror and decide
it’s okay for Haitians to try to survive
off vanilla extract and mud
as long as your profits continue to rise?
When you see a gun on your HD TV
does it remind you to ship off a batch of AKs
to Venezuela to ensure the ghettos stay fighting
and the “commies” don’t find solidarity,
because it’s bad for business?
Are you so caught up in your marketing schemes
you search for the prettiest, poorest, youngest girl
to pose as needed because food and pride can be bought?
How greedy are your ideas
of squeezing out the most profit you can
from outdated fossile fuels
when you deny plans for reusable energy sources
in favor of war against poor people on Black Gold land?
When you boil your eggs in the a.m. do you smile?
knowing you payed as little as possible
to that farmer
knowing he must sell or die
in need of medications you own?
When you look in that same mirror
in the morning
and you say to yourself
“I’m not that bad, I’m no capitalist”
do you realize that in your complacency
by doing nothing
to stop these atrocities
you are worse
because you know it’s wrong.

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Your Socks

We are given shoes - and the cement to walk on
jacket and pants - and the gum to chew on
unwrap the plastic - open the box
Let’s see just how much money we can blow on socks
symbols stitched outward - seams pink and frilly
made in amerikkan sweatshops - made in Vichy Chile
Teresa Marie is nine and has worked here years
fifty cents a day for her blood sweat and tears
she lives in a mud hut with her family’s chickens
and old rusty barrel - a couple flat rocks
home sweet home - here’s Teresa’s kitchen
her father shot by a U.$.-backed dictator
her mother raped by a drunken U.$. soldier
the baby’s half white and starving to death
fifty pennies a day - eight mouths - no milk left
you walk into the store - air conditioned - complaining
she walks in the mud shoeless - sharp rocks - daily
you are proud as apple pie to be an amerikkkan
she has nightmares: “U.$. soldiers are coming to get me”
bigger fatter stitched corporate brand name socks
skinnier jumpier malnourished children walking on rocks
you’re depressed - on medication
but at least you don’t stink
powdered. deoderized - pampered. christianized
you want Jesus to save you - LOL - ya right
behind her hut in an old tree knot
a penny a week out of the several she’s got
a smile lights her face as she turns to cook dinner
her brother needs ammo - revolutionary clandestine U.$. pig killer

chain
[Rhymes/Poetry]
expand

Why talk and not say shit


v1. The president participating, dys-educating my Black people
The condition is missing for us to live equal
Say we all the same but restrained for what we look like
It don’t take a genius to see it don’t look right
Obama just a puddle surrounded by pitfalls
A puppet in the game playing by his master’s rules
Are we living in the land of the free
Or are we free as they want us to be
The constitution is breached
His words are lies, plans are unspoken
Intentions are clear to keep the cream class growing
Why you gotta cut education
And not this fucked up system
Locked brotha’s up for false accusations
Claim you leading the nation
Revamping enslavement
Campaigning, talking and ain’t saying shit

Hook: why you talking x3, talking and ain’t saying shit

v2. Why when Haiti had to suffer the quake
Those who survive had to suffer and wait for the united states
No water no help or food
For weeks and they made it look good on the news
It’s the rules of the game to keep them under the shoe
No money no help unless they benefit too
The president is irrelevant to speak the truth
I’d rather speak than to keep this thing on mute
Profit is the only topic when help is called on
Freedom is not an option cuz the law is all wrong
Manipulating the race saying equal we all are
People we all are
Police brutality, to specific formalities
Time to wake the streets and those sleeping wit it
Cuz dudes talking and ain’t saying shit

chain