Enough is enough! See---see you don’t speak for me!
I speak for me, for I am a man---a man with dignity…
And---and how dare you fix your lips to say “boy.”
You know as if I were a joke or one of your little toys…
And---and how dare you fix your lips to call me a “nigger.”
See, for people like you I just give the middle finger---
I mean the middle finger in a sense, for you give me strength…
I am affection---affection in the eyes of the ridicule…
I am perseverance---perseverance in the face of a stubborn mule…
See, it’s like there is a moat---a moat separating black & whites…
Black are still struggling and for their rights they fight…
Run away---never! See I am bravery---no, no I am pride…
And no matter what you say and do---I will survive…

See there is no failure for me, for my god can never loose…
The Devil sometimes tempts me, but---but my Lord I will always choose…
From morning to evening, from duck to dawn…
No matter the place my struggle lives on…
See, I am a black man and my struggle is my life…
I live it, I breathe it, and it engulfs my sight…
I love it, I cherish it, for it makes e strong…
The Civil War been over, but yet its essence lives on…
Those stereotypes, those assumptions, I’m gone prove ‘em all wrong!
A child who became a boy---a boy who became a man…
Misunderstood my entire life, but yet mighty I still stand.
Run away---never! See I am bravery---no, no I am pride…
And no matter what you say and do---I will survive…

I was always told a real mans actions in times of discomfort make him…
And a real mans actions in times of discomfort will never break him…
I’m keeping Him in my mind during my turbulent times…
For my Lord in my Savior and---and His light shall always shine…
A wise man said, I am the master of my fate, and captain of my soul…
That tells me look death in the eyes and tell him I won’t fold…
I mean I’m not some nigger boy who just can’t get right…
But yet an intellectual young man achieving the best in life…
But see, my problems sit and linger and about doing as they please…
Sometimes forcing me to fall down to my knees, but---but still I rise…
Like Maya Angelou I put my shame aside and still I rise…
Run away---never! See I am bravery---no, no I am pride…
And no matter what you say and do---I will survive…

My life, an endless tussle…
There is no end to the sight of my struggle…
What you don’t understand is that I don’t do for me nor live for me…
All I am I am for me, but all I do I do for he, Malachi, my son…
He will receive better than me when it’s all said and done…
My torment, my battle, my dejection, my pain…
My body left in shambles, but---but yet my spirit still remains…
Scarred and tattered, beat down and abused…
My spirit remains, See I just refuse to loose…
Like I said before, you don’t speak for me!
I speak for me, for I am a man and the epitome of dignity…
Run away---never! See I am bravery---no, no I am pride…
And no matter what you say and do---I will survive…


[every struggle has a beginning and an end, but you choose if you win or
loose…]
 
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