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Jericho

Hasan Salaam
Language: English


Hasan Salaam

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(2014)
Album: Life In Black & White
Featuring Hezekiah & Immortal Technique

Jericho Phillip Pannell was killed by Officer Gary Spath when I was 10 years old in Teaneck, New Jersey. Phillip’s cousin and the daughter of the cop’s partner were both in my class. Phillips cousin and I were bussed to “The White Side” of town. Blockbusting real estate in this community in the 1960s led to a very segregated town; the busing of students was done to “desegregate” a community with growing racial tensions.

Phillip Pannell, center, with friends.
Phillip Pannell, center, with friends.


It all boiled over when sixteen year old Phillip was murdered. I remember seeing Phillip a few times in passing at the park where we would play ball. After his death, I remember that the white teachers and staff took special interest in making sure the cop’s daughter was ok and even took her to the guidance counselor. Nothing for Phillips cousin. Phillip was Black and Spath is White. Spath claimed Phillip was reaching in his pockets when he shot him in the back. An autopsy concluded Phillip was shot in the back with his hands raised in the air, proving the officer lied. The usual cast of characters showed up, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Riots ensued. Spath was charged and acquitted of manslaughter, no more Sharpton and Jesse. The Pannell family and the community were left to pick up the pieces of injustice. Spath is walking the streets free after killing a child and Ms. Pannell is left without a sun.

This story is not uncommon in Black neighborhoods all over the country. There is no difference today than when Phillip was murdered. There are walls all around us; some of them block our progress from the day we are born. Some of these walls cannot always be seen until you apply for a bank loan, drive while Black or stand before a judge. The walls are built as color and class lines.

I often hear Caucasian Americans in arguments about race; recently I heard on Fox News “I’m tired of talking about race”. If they are tired of talking about it, imagine being stifled by these walls for generations. Our community has suffered at the hands of America from the written law of Jim Crow to the unwritten codes of racial profiling. These walls of racism, bigotry and oppression are beginning to crumble around us. What was once hidden behind the veil is now on blast for the entire world to see. Police brutality is being witnessed and shared via social media showing the world the unjust ways we are treated. Racism, Classism and every other ism are used to create the walls that separate humanity. It is up to each and every one of us to use our skills, talents and strengths to break down the walls brick by brick.

-PEACE
#HasanSalaam
#LifeInBlackandWhite
[Chorus: Hezekiah]
Fuck how you feel about me
Say what you will about me
But let’s see how you feel
When the walls come tumbling down
When the walls come tumbling down yeah
When the walls come tumbling down

[Verse 1: Hasan Salaam]
They're saying racism in Americas over
Well tell that to the pigs when they pulling me over
No eye contact just a gun out the holster
Plantation overseers, prisons, filling their quota
They call us niggers
They call us thugs
Say we all good for nothing and we all sell drugs
They call for blood
They call in the squadron
But I am Oscar Grant I am Trayvon Martin
Jelani Manigault and Phillip Pannell
Invisible man faces at the bottom of the well
We been through hell
Still see eternal life Henrietta Lacks cells
Uncle Tom's been corrupting the biz
And that's word to the wire under Al Sharpton’s wig
Pigs still shoot us in that back tho
Regardless of the nigga tweets by Gwyneth Paltrow
How low do we go to fit in
Killing ourselves even bleaching our skin
Racism been stayed right on track
And none of it changed just because the presidents black fuck that

[Chorus: Hezekiah]
Fuck how you feel about me
Say what you will about me
But let’s see how you feel
When the walls come tumbling down
When the walls come tumbling down yeah
When the walls come tumbling down

[Verse 2: Immortal Technique]
They wanna condition your brain when they get in there
To make you believe that the walls always been there
Persevering the game without getting your flesh torn
Gotta get to a square that’s not on a chess board
Invisible walls classism and privilege
That are taller than apartheid walls you live with
Governments a business clouded in smoke
And when you’re broke only real choice Pepsi and Coke
Muthafuckaz will build a wall for every reason alive
But then change the reason when they get you inside
They build a wall to try and keep terrorists out
And it becomes symbolic of what terrorism’s about
Build a great wall for barbarian neighbors
And it’s trampled by tourists a thousand years later
Now they built a wall to keep immigrants out
But wanna pick and choose the immigrants they talking about
[Bridge: Immortal Technique]
Jericho's Walls came tumbling downward
The hand of God turns Rock and Metal to powder
Rebellious Minds, I need you to think louder
Before they police every thought they encounter
Jericho's walls came tumbling downward
When empires fall you see who laid the groundwork
You think the Spark of Revolution's an outburst
I guess before Jericho we come to your house first

[Chorus: Hezekiah]
Fuck how you feel about me
Say what you will about me
But let’s see how you feel
When the walls come tumbling down
When the walls come tumbling down yeah
When the walls come tumbling down

2020/5/10 - 13:51




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