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The Poverty of Philosophy | |
|---|---|
| Author | Immortal Technique |
| First published | 2001 |
| Type | Song lyrics |
Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed
Niggas talk about change and working within the system to achieve that
The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you
There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completelyAnd I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem
Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism
You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials
But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources
I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words
My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others
You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America
Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States
Places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well
As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined
And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques
But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people
"Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, fuck you, they are you
No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, you will never be them
They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in
And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us
I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living
No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money
We have whatever they kick down to us
My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies
The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives those are the real motherfuckers that I need to bring it to
Not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid to know shit about the way things are set up
In fact, I have more in common with most working- and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people
As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue.
Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie motherfuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole
In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation
I want to come back, free all my people, hang the motherfucker that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground
I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land
You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a fucking lethargic devil
I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole
Most of those successful individuals are sellouts and house negroes
But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto
Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor
That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture, and forms of government
You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois League
The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people cause he represented the agenda of White Spaniards once he was captured
Not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans
So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just cause they Black or Latino. They have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat
Porque sino entonces te mando por el carajo cabron gusano hijo de puta, seramos libre pronto, viva la revolucion, VIVA LA REVOLUCION