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1. |
A Reflection of Us All
03:56
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[Kurt Vonnegut narrating his Slaughterhouse-Five novel]
It begins like this: Listen:
[John Lennon from his final interview on the day he died December 8, 1980]
My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.
[John F Kennedy from his Remarks at Amherst College, October 26, 1963]
The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role.
The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.
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2. |
A Victim's Mentality
02:59
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My desires have fallen victim to my pauses
as my promises will fall a victim to my breath
Yet as twilight forms a victim to the morning
my life shall never become a victim of my death
Who is the oppressor and who are the oppressed?
Who controls the mould that traps our souls
for he who rolls the dice holds the keys to treasure’s chest
Freedom can sail in on a half-shell
but does it ride the wave of a crest?
The full moon forms a cocoon
so we delightfully dance to the tunes
played by somebody else
You see everybody knows that on the streets you rule
You’re hoodied up to self-destruct but yet you look so cool
You make others love to copy every move you do
but your plight keeps them amused because you act the fool
But in the company board rooms - we never see your face there
Why die for post codes that you don't own because bruv, nobody cares
The only slang this world understands is about the juice you got to spare
to buy the bricks between the mortar or the land beneath the air
Only effective journeys are worth repeating
and only reflective fables are worth rereading
For a story can never be told in the same way twice
and different generations each remould an old excuse to give it life
But can we honestly claim to be a victim all the time?
Is our sickness fully owned by the man who holds the dice?
So, who is the oppressor and who are the oppressed?
Its the thinking of remaining a victim in this life that brings you death
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3. |
Detroit Red
03:41
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[Malcolm X]
Ten men can be sitting at a table eating - you know, dining - and I can come and sit down where they're dining. THEY'RE dining. I've got a plate in front of me but nothing that's on it.
Because all of us are sitting at the same table are all of us diners? I'm not a diner until you let me dine, THEN I become a diner. Just being at the table with others doesn't make me a diner and this is what you've got to get in your head here in this country. Just because you're in this country doesn't make you an American, no - you've got to go farther than that before you can become an American.
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
then I become a diner
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
I've got a plate in front of me but nothing that's on it
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
then I become a diner
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
and this is what you've got to get in your head here in this country
You've got to enjoy the fruits of Americanism and you haven't enjoyed those fruits. You've enjoyed the thorns, you've enjoyed the thistles - but you have not enjoyed the fruits, no sir.
So I point these things out brothers and sisters so that you and I will know the importance of being in complete unity with other, harmony with each other and not letting The Man manoeuvre us into fighting one another.
No, you've got to go farther than that
you've got to enjoy the fruits of Americanism
and you haven't enjoyed those fruits.
No, you've got to go farther than that
you've enjoyed the thorns, you've enjoyed the thistles
but you have not enjoyed the fruits, no sir.
I say again that I'm not a racist, I don't believe in any form of segregation or anything like that; I'm for brotherhood of everybody but I don't believe in enforcing brotherhood upon people who don't want it. As long as we practice brotherhood among ourselves and then others who want to practice brotherhood with us - we're for that. But I don't think that we should run around trying to love somebody who doesn't love us.
Thank you.
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
then I become a diner
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
I've got a plate in front of me but nothing that's on it
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
then I become a diner
I'm not a diner until you let me dine
and this is what you've got to get in your head here in this country
No, you've got to go farther than that
you've got to enjoy the fruits of Americanism
and you haven't enjoyed those fruits.
No, you've got to go farther than that
you've enjoyed the thorns, you've enjoyed the thistles
but you have not enjoyed the fruits, no sir.
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4. |
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It’s clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper… deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages – deeper, even, than inflation or recession.
Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.
Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns.
And we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.
We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
Mr President, we’re in trouble.
What can we do?
First of all, we must face the truth and then we can change our course.
If you lead Mr President, we will follow.
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5. |
The White Man
04:35
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[Lena Horne]
The man is the employer
and the man was usually a white man,
a white employer
The man is a sheriff in Mississippi
The man is a cop in Harlem… white
He could be negro, because even though he's negro
the man who's the head of his police department is
the white man
I knew as soon as I said that I shouldn't have without… explaining it
My father was a number banker
He was a negro man who to survive… hustled
and in the sense of hustling and a negro man
it means that often times if you were educated and able to get a job
the most menial
and that was all you had to hold
you didn't want to do that
and you didn't want to work for someone
who had less talent, less brains than you
so you risked your life
you laid your life down on the line
You were a hustler
you worked with, in many times, criminal attitudes
It took a lot of guts
and on the one hand you chose that
rather than have the man make a slave of you
The choice wasn't very wide
you could be a whore or a cook
or you could struggle and be a teacher
but on the whole in New York
a little corrupt, a little cynical
you were more apt to be a whore if you couldn't make it
and if you were a young, cute, negro kid
than be a teacher, especially if you hadn't had the education
of being a teacher
and especially if your parents had no money to make you anything else
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6. |
She
04:54
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See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
She never knew what little boys could do until she had one.
Tons of fun, hours of play, she loved when her little man smiled at her
his certain way.
Well today's his day...
let's celebrate.
Let's celebrate little man's birthday. And even though Daddy ain't around
because he was gunned down by NY pig pound on the same date
let's celebrate little man's birthday.
And may he live longer... stronger... faster.
Old enough to maybe retaliate with his toast
and boast to the neighborhood folk of how he terrorizes blue coats
because see, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
She never knew what little boys could do until she had one.
Teenage years amongst his peers
brought black boy pressure none the lesser.
Sessions of aggression rehearsed on Nostrand Ave
BK abrasive, sly and persuasive when he swaggered or staggered
in the morning twilight
See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
See, she wondered what would become of her son, full of discomfort
His situation turned mother against child
illicit occupation equivalent to incarceration
lifestyle led black boy wild
now he's seven years later into manhood
See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
He's the black ethereal grand imperial being from the unseen light
he walks with a bop, swaggers to the right, up the ave.
See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
She never knew what little boys could do until she had one.
26 without a witness he was wandering the city streets.
She never knew what little boys could do
and how they often wanted to compete.
He settled his story of American glory by doing fast things in the wild life
See, she wondered in mid-summer what would happen to him in the night.
And see, she wondered in mid-summer what to do
how to celebrate
how to live
how to be free.
See, she wondered in mid-summer how to celebrate his birthday.
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7. |
So It Goes
03:50
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So long forever, old fellas and gals
So long forever, old sweethearts and pals
God bless ‘em
Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is 8 miles from the home I live in all year round, was shot 2 nights ago.
He died last night. So it goes.
Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died too. So it goes.
So long forever, old fellas and gals
So long forever, old sweethearts and pals
God bless ‘em
And every day my government gives me a count of corpses created by military science in Vietnam. So it goes.
My father died many years ago now, of natural causes.
He was a sweet man. He was a gun nut too.
He left me his guns. They rust.
So long forever, old fellas and gals
So long forever, old sweethearts and pals
God bless ‘em
So it goes.
Everything is alright and everybody has to do exactly what he does.
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8. |
Oil-Powered Machine
02:19
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[Mike Ruppert]
Here's another piece of fun information for you: there are 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy in every calorie of food you eat. 10 calories of hydrocarbon ... Why?
Well, you plant a crop - how do you plant a crop?
You drive an oil-powered machine to till the land. Then you drive another oil-powered machine to plant the seeds. Then you've gotta irrigate it - well how do you irrigate it? With water. Well how's that pumped? Electricity. How do you make the electricity? Natural gas or oil or coal - to make the electricity. Then you spray 'em with fertilizers - well, what are all the fertilizers made from? Natural gas - ammonia is made from natural gas. What are all commercial pesticides made from? Oil!
So when the plant's all grown up and you've used all this oil to get it there then you've gotta harvest it with another oil-powered machine.
You've gotta drive it to a food processing plant with another oil-powered machine where it's processed with electricity - which is more hydrocarbon energy. Then you wrap it in plastic - which is oil. Then you drive it by another oil-powered machine to a supermarket where you go and whip out your plastic ATM card, pay for it, take it home and put it on a plastic plate which is made out of oil, throw it in a microwave oven which is run by electricity made by hydrocarbon energy; and then you eat it.
[Jimmy Carter]
The energy crisis is real, it is worldwide, it is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them.
[Martin Luther King Jr.]
Procrastination is still the thief of time.
[Jimmy Carter]
We are at a turning point in our history.
[Martin Luther King Jr.]
The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways.
[Jimmy Carter]
This is not a message of happiness or reassurance but it is the truth and it is a warning.
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9. |
Be Water My Friend
04:10
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[Spoken & authored by Bruce Lee]
Empty your mind
Be formless, shapeless
Like water
When you put water into a cup
it becomes the cup
when you put water into a bottle
it becomes the bottle
when you put it in a teapot
it becomes the teapot
Now water can flow
or it can crash
Be water my friend
Running water never goes stale
so you gotta just keep on flowing
Be water my friend
Its very slow and you push it out
but all the time you are keeping the continuity going
bending, stretching everything
I suppose you know you just keep it moving
see the idea is running water never grows stale
so you gotta just keep on flowing
Be water my friend
To express oneself honestly
not lying to oneself
and to express myself honestly
now that my friend is very hard to do
and you have to train
you have to keep your reflexes
so that when you want it its there
When you want to move you are moving
and when you move you're determined to move
not taking one inch - not anything less than that
If I want to punch
I'm gonna do it man
Be water my friend
Here I am you know as a human being
How can I express myself totally and completely?
Its a process of continuing growth
Empty your mind
Be formless
Shapeless
Be water my friend
You what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because - I mean, I don't want to sound like 'as Confucius say...' but under the sky, under the heavens man, there is but one family. It just so happens man that people are different.
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10. |
Two Past Midnight
02:50
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[Fannie Lou Hamer] I want you to know what's happening to us today
[Malcolm X] I don't see any American dream I see an American nightmare
[FLH] but we gonna change that baby.
We want a change
We want a change throughout the country
We want a change
We want a change, change - I'm talkin about some real change
and people whether you believe it or not...
I want you to know what's happening to us today
[Malcolm X] I don't see any American dream I see an American nightmare
[FLH] but we gonna change that baby.
We want a change
We want a change throughout the country
We want a change
We are sick and tired of seeing people shot down in the name of law and order all across the country
I want you to know what's happening to us today
[Malcolm X] I don't see any American dream I see an American nightmare
[FLH] If I hate you because you hate me I'm no better than you are - and I don't hate a person because they hate me.
I'll try to free that person too.
I don't see all people as bad... and I don't hate a person because they hate me.
We are a part of America, but we do want to be treated as human beings
and I'm fighting for human rights, not for equal rights.
We want a change
We want a change throughout the country
We want a change
We want a change, change,
and people whether you believe it or not...
A house divided against itself cannot stand
A nation that's divided against itself cannot stand
and its two past midnight and we on our way out.
[Malcolm X] I don't see any American dream I see an American nightmare
[FLH] but we gonna change that baby.
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Fold Leeds, UK
Leeds UK group amplifying humanitarian perspectives & critical reflections on today’s world.
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