Sitting Dove - Beast Within lyrics

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools...MLK Intro Chorus: For us to get united, think spirit—say it again For us to save our dignity, we must try to forgive Character content, that's it—say it again This is that cause to die for so that we can live This little ditty starts about grade K I was at the state fair, I remember the day I was s**in' on Slurpee I had in my face Then smack, it splattered all over the place I could feel the sting on my nose and cheeks To find out what happened I looked up to see Three kids older, different color than me They held fly swatters still ready to swing I could tell that those kids just wanted to fight But I didn't want that, I just wondered why...But Before I could wonder, I was quickly told why That the you knows did it to me just because I was light Now I don't know how that was all about race I just know what happened had left me in a state Thank God I'd heard about that man M-L-K I felt him back then, I feel him more to-day As we grew up, we were pretty much friends Yet I was taught by my elders that there was a difference The difference they were talking about was based on skin Felt the presence of the devil when they were talk-in' No problems I knew 'til high school came 'Til that sunny day brought in a storm of acid-rain Guys started pushin' me, talkin' about skin Messin' up my hair, pushin', laughin' Callin' me a kind of boy, guys I thought were friends All done without cause, my faith was shaken But lookin' back, I can see what happened An elder of my friends must have started talkin' Must have opened their eyes to the light man's sin Now there's plenty of that, I've lived it firsthand It comes from our elders and the tele-vision When identity is skin, it serves to spread the beast within Break: Not long after I was talkin' with a gal One who I liked, who only saw me as a pal She said that she was goin' with the guy who pushed me down Then I used that one word and it got around What never got around was it was said in response To a bigoted attack when I had done nothin' wrong I forgave and said I'm sorry to everybody and their Mom But it didn't matter, hate kept marching on Despite that tit for tat, I tried to keep faith Faced off with that Stepdad for spreadin' the hate That day we were sittin', watchin' T-V That Stepdad wasn't much for diversity That Stepdad said that one word and I asked him to stop But he kept on sayin' it 'til I made him stop I grabbed him by his sweatshirt just below his chin Jerked him from the chair "Don't ya (pop-pop) say it again!" When Mom came in cryin', I let go of him Another explosion based solely on skin Such words just spread division, no matter who uses them Mental walls of ma** destruction, no one's innocent A raging alcoholic, my soul wasting away Hip Hop thumpin' loud in my ears all day It's what kept me alive, but I was haunted by the hate It reminded me of Stepdad and the things he used to say Stepdad comes from fear and hate, Rap's from real pain But the gun talk and the racial pride hits me about the same And the talk of revolution, like that'll set things straight Don't blink before you know it, there'll be no U-S-A Words of that Stepdad echoed in my head "You better get wise boy, they really want you dead" My bob-along thought, "my heroes really want me dead?" "You better learn to shoot a gun for your own self-defense?" Those cold thoughts resounded in me I searched for some soul, some shared humanity Yet everywhere I turned, just hate hara**ing When the Bible says we're one blood, one humanity When I get free, it's plain as day to see How the media's always stirring up some controversy Just to break us up by gender, creed and ethnicity Those opinion polls are phony, they just tell us what to think Yeah, those in charge put forth a nice face But they trap us in our skin when they remind us of our race It's done to distract, while things are put in place The finishing touches on new police state If I offended any good-willed people, I apologize right now. That was not my intent. But we are being played against each other. We need to forget about race and follow the money. Now that'll get us somewhere... Chorus Outro: (2x) For us to get united, think spirit—say it again For us to save our dignity, we must try to forgive Character content, that's it—say it again This is that cause to die for so that we can live