Version One - Hate Is a Virus Lyrics

They can't no longer depend on the police to be to protect us
Like they say they're gonna do
So this is what you get
And no it's not gonna end today, I can't tell you it's gonna end tomorrow
I don't know when it's gonna end
But it's for y'all to start
We not the one that's killing us, Y'all killing us
We can't make a change if y'all don't change

Where do I even begin?
How do you find the resolve from within?
To carry on when you feel like your daily existence
Is in question, threatened by the world you live in?
I can't fathom, let alone imagine
The feeling that your next breath could be your last one
The anxiety, can't ever let your guard down
As if living wasn't already hard now
Same story, different name
One more gone but nothing changes
From the outside, we know this is horrible
But for you, this has always been normal
Desensitized to the violence, tired of crying
Try to rise up, but even then you're silenced
Murdered in cold blood by the police
Another dead Black body in the streets

Put the guns down, I'm scared, I'm scared
If you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a very serious problem
And my theory is that white people have a very serious problem
And they should start thinking about what they can do about it

Where do I even begin?
I have visions of Vincent Chin
In 1982, a few days away from getting married
Vincent was killed and eventually buried
Two white men blamed him for losing their jobs
In the auto industry, thinking he was Japanese
Took a Louisville Slugger and cracked his skull open wide
But served no jail time
Now parallel this tragedy with Ahmaud Arbery's
He was perceived as a suspect of burglary
While out jogging, chased by two white men for minutes
Cut him off with their truck, there's no exit
Shoot first, ask questions last
Three blasts, now Ahmaud is ash
74 days passed before an arrest was made
So how can I believe that all lives matter the same

You want me to make an act of faith, risking myself, my wife, my woman, my sister, my children
On some idealism which assure me exists in America which I have never seen
Please, please I can't breathe
Please man, please somebody help me

Where do I even begin
Can't say that you don't see our color of skin
You could be Harvard educated, they'll still call the cops
Just ask Christian Cooper if he could've been shot
Like Breonna Taylor who was relaxing in her residence
20 rounds fired and now she's Heaven sent
If you can express your outrage for Kaepernick
Please address the knee to the neck
That led to the death of George Floyd, the lack of respect
For human life is why people feel the need to protest
Look, I stand with you in solidarity
But to be honest in this moment of clarity
Until those who put the system in place
Acknowledge the mistakes of their forefathers and say
The sins of the past are just as prevalent to this day
Then take action, none of this will go away

I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air
Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots
But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard
And what is it that America has failed to hear
It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years
It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met
And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society
Are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo
Than about justice, equality, and humanity
And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay
And as long as America postpones justice
We stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again
Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention