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 oppressed, and all those in the struggle

Yeah. yo, check it-

There were lights and sirens, gunshots firing

Cover your eyes as I describe a scene so violent

Seemed like a bad dream, she laid in a blood puddle

Blood bubbled in her chest, cold air brushed against open flesh

No room to rest, pain consumed each breath

Shot twice with her hands up

Police questioned but shot before she answered

One Panther lost his life, the other ran for his

Scandalous the police were as they kicked and beat her

Comprehension she was beyond, trying to hold on

To life. She thought she'd live with no arm

That's what it felt like, got to the hospital, eyes held tight

They moved her room to room-she could tell by the light

Handcuffed tight to the bed, through her skin it bit

Put guns to her head, every word she got hit

"Who shot the trooper?" they asked her

Put mace in her eyes, threatened to blast her

Her mind raced till things got still

Opened her eyes, realized she's next to her best friend who got killed

She got chills, they 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 building as they tried to destroy her

If it wasn't for this German nurse they would've served her worse

I read this sister's story, knew that it deserved a verse

I wonder what would happen if that would've been me?

All of this just so we could be free

So dig it, y'all

I'm thinking of Assata, yes

Listen to my love, Assata, yes

Your power and pride is beautiful

May God bless your soul

It seemed like the middle of the night when the law awakened her

Walkie-talkies crackling, I see them when they're taking her

Though she kind of knew

What made the ride peaceful was the trees and the sky was blue

Arrived to ********* Prison about 6 in the morning

Uneasy as they pushed her to the second floor in

A cell, one cot, no window, facing hell

Put in the basement of a prison with all males

And the smell of misery, seatless toilets and centipedes

She'd exercise, paint, and begin to read

Two years in a hole, her soul grew weak

Away from people so long she forgot how to speak

She discovered freedom 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 her, hoping she's lose her seed

Held tight, knowing the fight would live through this seed

In need of a doctor, from her stomach she'd bleed

Out of this situation a girl was conceived

Separated from her, left 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 cases, hoping 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 would've been me

All of this just so we could be free

Yeah, I often wonder what would happen if that would've been me

All of this just so we could be free

So dig it, people

I'm thinking of Assata, yes

Listen to my love, Assata, yes

Your power and pride is beautiful

May God bless your soul

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 their old house in Queens

The fact that they always came true was the thing

Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldn't of done

Medical evidence shown she couldn't have 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 breathe, and 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

I’m thinking of Assata, yeah

Listen to my love, Assata, yeah

We’re molded from the same mud, Assata

We share the same blood, Assata, yeah

Your power and pride, so beautiful

May God bless your soul

Your power and pride, so beautiful

May God bless your soul

Freedom? You're asking me about freedom? You're asking me about freedom?

I'll be honest with you.

I know a whole more about what freedom isn't than about what it is,

because I've never been free.

I can only share my vision with you of the future, about what freedom is

The way I see it, freedom is-- is the right to grow, is the right to

Blossom. Freedom is-- is the right to be yourself, to be who you are,

to be who you wanna be, to do what you wanna d