Letter To My Countrymen Lyrics - Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color - Brother Ali

I used to think I hated this place 

Couldn't wait to tell the president straight to his face 

But lately I changed, nowadays I embrace it all 

Beautiful ideals and amazing flaws 

Got to care enough to give a testament 

'Bout the deeply depressing mess we're in 

It's home so we better make the best of it 

I wanna make this country what it says it is 

Still dream in the vividest living color 

No matter how many times my love been smothered 

Who's ever above us won't just let us suffer 

All of this struggling got to amount to something 

This is a letter to my countrymen 

Especially those my age and younger than 

We're up against an ugly trend 

Everybody's hustling don't nobody touch their friends 

No group singing and dancing 

No anthem nobody holds hands, and... 

Instead they give a handheld 

And make you shoulder life's burden by your damn self 

One thing that can't be debated 

Power never changed on it's own you got to make it 

That's why community is so sacred 

That's the symbol that we make when we raise fists 

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"Sooner or later" 

We don't really like to talk about the race thing 

The whole grandparents used to own slaves thing 

Pat ourselves on the back in February 

Looking at pictures of Abe Lincoln and the great King 

But the real picture's much more embarrassing 

We're still not even close to really sharing things 

The situation of oppressed people 

Shows what we feel it means to be a human being 

What does it mean to be American? 

I think the struggle to free is our inheritance 

And if we say it how it really is 

We know our lily skin still give us privilege 

Advantages given to the few 

That are built into the roots of our biggest institutions 

That's the truth in life we got to choose 

Do I fight in the movement or think I'm entitled to it 

This is not a practice life 

This is the big game we got to attack it right 

Each one of us is headed for the grave 

This old crooked world won't be saved by the passive type 

This is a letter to my countrymen 

Not from a Democrat or a Republican 

But one among you that's why you call me brother 

Ain't scared to tell you we're in trouble 'cause I love you 

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"Sooner or later" 

They tell me I'm a dreamer, they ridicule 

They feel defeated, old, bitter, and cynical 

Excuse me but I see it from a different view 

I still believe in what a driven few could really do 

I know that the masses want to sleep 

And they would just rather hear me rapping to the beat 

But I want to pass this planet to my son 

A little better than it was when they handed it to me 

So I wrote a letter to my countrymen 

I'll be happy if it only reaches one of them 

Reporting live A-L-I, your brother 

Mourning in America, dreaming in color 

My dear Brother Ali, 

I think you know deep down in your soul that 

Something, something just ain't right. 

You don't want to be just well adjusted to injustice 

And well adapted to indifference. You want to be 

A person with integrity who leaves a mark on the world. 

People can say when you go that you left the world 

Just a little better than you found it. I understand. I want 

To be like that too.