Homeland and Hip-Hop

[Mumia Abu-Jamal]
Homeland and Hip-Hop
To think about the origins of hip-hop in this culture
And also about Homeland Security
Is to see that there are, at the very least, two worlds in America One of the well-to-do and another of the struggling
For if ever there was the absence of homeland security, it is seen in the gritty roots of hip-hop
For the music arises from a generation that feels, with some justice
That they have been betrayed by those who came before them That they are at best tolerated in schools, feared on the streets And almost inevitably destined for the hell holes of prison
They grew up hungry, hated, and unloved
And this is the psychic fuel that generates the anger that seems endemic in much of the music and poetry
One senses very little hope above the personal goals of wealth to climb above the pit of poverty
In the broader society, the opposite is true
For here, more than any other place on earth, wealth is so widespread and so bountiful
That what passes for the middle class in America could pass for the upper class in most of the rest of the world
Their very opulence and relative wealth makes them insecure And homeland security is a governmental phrase that is as oxymoronic as crazy as saying military intelligence
Or the U.S Department of Justice
They're just words, they have very little relationship to reality Now do you feel safer now? Do you think you will anytime soon?
Do you think duct tape and Kleenex and color codes will make you safe?
From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Sample from the film Contact]
There are many governments, business interests, even religious leaders that would like to see me depart this Earth
I'll grant them their wish soon enough
But before I do, I wish to make a small contribution, a final gesture of goodwill to the people of this little planet that have given
From whom I have taken—so much