Tone Jonez - The Souls of Black Folk lyrics

[Verse 1: Timothy Welbeck] How does it feel to be a problem How does it feel to be the least of these--beneath all of the begotten To be down trodden, to feel you are forgotten To live within the margins A life filled with hardships A path watered with the sobbin' of the brokenhearted To walk a path that is cobbled with losses To walk the "stony road" that your ancestors trod How does it feel to be a problem when you feel this way often The U.S. "launched its experiment in democracy" And pawned us off as its most virulent property Its original text denied its seminal bequest To the sons of Ham, Cush, Nubia, Egypt But I suppose, that is how experiments go The problem with them though is someone must be the control Someone must be the tape by which other men measure their souls And when you look at the probed, you'll see the souls of black folk [Hook: Dozzy Daniel] You have seen our children dying You have heard their mothers crying Lord, have mercy on the souls of black folk You have seen our spirits striving You have heard our fathers sighing Lord, what ever will become of our souls [Verse 2: Timothy Welbeck] How does it feel to be a problem, I answer seldom a word There's sufficient rancor there to observe 250 years of slavery, ninety of Jim Crow Separate but equal, it will sear men's souls So when they lifted their voices, You could hear their moans Ten generations born under the rattle of chains Who had nothing more than the refrain of their clang This is the battle of those living in the shadow of chattel Who feel like the depths of their hopes are shallow Who have seen pastoral scenes morph to scaffolds And you don't believe that we're heavy laden by Satan When the States treat us like apes whose fur has been shaven We behave in ways that holds that in high regard It's like folly has overtaken that mind of ours And that folly has done all types of harm [Hook: Dozzy Daniel] You have seen our children dying You have heard their mothers crying Lord, have mercy on the souls of black folk You have seen our spirits striving You have heard our fathers sighing Lord, what ever will become of our souls [Bridge Dozzy Daniel] Help the babies This world is crazy You are the only one that we can lean one [Verse 3: Timothy Welbeck] How doe we see beyond these problems From what "the dark past" taught us, it would seem the task is arduous But, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress" We have to fight to see these things the way that our God does But for now, we see through a gla** darkly The flask we grasp blurs the view of our feet Yes, we partly, but we see hardly We don't see the path that we are embarking But if we are to rise up above the color line, and above it rise There must come a time we see the truth as self-evident and otherwise Live the true meaning of our creed, and let the struggle die One day, we'll let the struggle die Maybe, we'll let the struggle die