Lyric A Song for Assata - Common Sense

Lyric Song A Song for Assata: Common
In the Spirit of God
In the Spirit of the Ancestors
In the Spirit of the Black Panthers
In the Spirit of Assata Shakur
We make this movement towards freedom
for all those who have been oppressedand all those in the struggle
Yeah yocheck it

There were lights and sirensgunshots firin
Cover your eyes as I describe a scene so violent
Seemed like a bad dreamshe laid in a blood puddle
Blood bubbled in her chestcold air brushed against open flesh
No room to restpain consumed each breath
Shot twice wit her hands up
Police questioned but shot before she answered
One Panther lost his lifethe other ran for his
Scandalous the police were as they kicked and beat her
Comprehension she was beyondtryna hold on
to life She thought she d live with no arm
that s what it felt likegot to the hospitaleyes held tight
They moved her room to room she could tell by the light
Handcuffed tight to the bedthrough her skin it bit
Put guns to her headevery word she got hit
yquot;Who shot the trooperyquot; they asked her
Put mace in her eyesthreatened to blast her
Her mind raced till things got still
Opened her eyesrealized she s next to her best friend who got killed
She got chillsthey told her that s where she would be next
Hurt mixed wit anger survival was a reflex
They lied and denied visits from her lawyer
But she was buildin as they tried to destroy her
If it wasn t for this german nurse they woulda served her worse
I read this sister s storyknew that it deserved a verse
I wonder what would happen if that woulda been me
All this shit so we could be freeso dig ity all

Cee lo vocals
I m thinkin of Assatayes
Listen to my LoveAssatayes
Your Power and Pride is beautiful
May God bless your Soul

Common
It seemed like the middle of the night when the law awakened her
Walkie talkies cracklinI see em when they takin her
Though she kinda knew
What made the ride peaceful was the trees and the sky was blue
Arrived to Middlesex Prison about six inna morning
Uneasy as they pushed her to the second floor in
a cellone cotno windowfacing hell
Put in the basement of a prison wit all males
And the smell of miseryseatless toilets and centipedes
She d exercisepaint and begin to read
Two years inna hole Her soul grew weak
Away from people so long she forgot how to speak
She discovered frredom is a unspoken sound
And a wall is a wall and can be broken down
Found peace in the Panthers she went on trial with
One of the brothers she had a child with
The foulness they would feed herhopin she s lose her seed
Held tightknowing the fight would live through this seed
In need of a doctorfrom her stomach she s bleed
Out of this situation a girl was conceived
Separated from herleft to mother the Revolution
And lactated to attack hate
Cause federal and state was built for a Black fate
Her emptiness was filled with beatings and court dates
They fabricated caseshoping one would stick
And said she robbed places that didn t exist
In the midst of threats on her life and being caged with Aryan whites
Through dark halls of hate she carried the light
I wonder what would happen if that woulda been me
All of this shit so we could be free
YeahI often wonder what would happen if that woulda been me
All of this shit so we could be freeso dig itpeople

Cee Lo
I m thinkin of Assatayeah
Listen to my LoveAssatayeah
Your Power and Prideso Beautiful
May God bless your Soul
Oooh

Common
Yo
From North Carolina her grandmother would bring
news that she had had a dream
Her dreams always meant what they needed them to mean
What made them real was the action in between
She dreamt that Assata was free in they old house in Queens
The fact that they always came true was the thing
Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldna done
Medical evidence shown she couldna shot the gun
It s time for her to see the sun from the other side
Time for her daughter to be by her mother s side
Time for this Beautiful Woman to become soft again
Time for her to breatheand not be told how or when
She untangled the chains and escaped the pain
How she broke out of prison I could never explain
And even to this day they try to get to her
but she s free with political asylum in Cuba

Cee Lo vocals
I m thinkin of Assatayeah
Listen to my LoveAssatayeah
We re molded from the same mudAssata
We share the same BloodAssatayeah
Your Power and Prideso Beautiful
May God bless your Soul
Your Power and Prideso Beautiful
May God bless your Soul
Oooh

Assata
Freedom! You askin me about freedom Askin me about freedom
I ll be honest with you I know a whole more about what freedom isn t
than about what it iscause I ve never been free
I can only share my vision with you of the futureabout what freedom is
Uhhthe way I see itfreedom is is the right to growis the right to
blossom
Freedom is is the right to be yourselfto be who you are
to be who you wanna beto do what you wanna do fade out