Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance
[Sample]
Let me welcome both of you to the show this morning to talk
about what I consider a very very important topic of the Harlem
Renaissance. But before we get into that...
[Immortal Technique]
Harlem was once was red line district rated,
Designated ghetto like the yellow star of david,
And you wonder why people don't own they homes,
'Cause the racist bank wouldn't fuckin' mortgage a loan,
Until after the invasion of gentrification,
Eminent domain intimidation that's not negotiation,
And it's frustrating to look at every day,
Like watchin' a porno on 56K,
Biohazard labs instead of storerooms,
What's next muthafucka projects as dorm rooms,
You ain't foolin'nobody in this community dude,
With your little fake manhattanville community group,
Ivy Leage real estate firms are corrupt,
They lay siege to your castle like the Moors in Europe,
They treat street vendors like criminal riffraff,
While politicians get the corporate kickbacks (snakes),
[Chorus]
Harlem Renaissance, A revolution betrayed,
Modern-day slaves thinking that the ghetto is saved,
'Till they start deporting people off the property,
Ethnically cleansing the 'hood economically,
They want to kill the real Harlem Renaissance,
Tryin' to put the Virgin Mary through an early menopause,
The savior is a metaphor,
For how we set it off guerilla war against the rezoning predators,
[Immortal Technique]
When I speak about Harlem I speak to the world,
The little Afghan boy and the Bosnian girl,
The African in Sudan, the people of Kurdistan,
The third world American indigenous man,
Palestinians, Washington Heights Dominicans,
Displaced New Orleans citizens,
Beachfront Brazilian fevelas that you livin' in,
The hood is prime real estate they want back in again,
i didn't write this to talk shit, I say it because,
Some of y'all forgot what the Harlem Renaissance was,
We had revolution, music and artisans,
But the movement was still fucked up like Parkinson's,
'Cause while we were giving birth to the culture we love,
Prejudice kept our own people out of the club,
Only colored celebrities in the party,
And left us a false legacy of superiority,
W.E.B Dubois versus Marcus Garvey,
And we ended up selling out to everybody,
The Dutch Schultzs, and the John Gottis,
Banksters, modern-day gangsters, immobile army,
They want to move us all out the NYC,
Like they did to the Jews with the Alhambra Decree,
So support your own businesses and do the knowledge,
Cause the real Harlem Renaissance is economic,
[Chorus]
Harlem Renaissance, A revolution betrayed,
Modern-day slaves thinking that the ghetto is saved,
'Till they start deporting people off the property,
Ethnically cleansing the 'hood economically,
They want to kill the real Harlem Renaissance,
Tryin' to put the Virgin Mary through an early menopause,
The savior is a metaphor,
For how we set it off guerilla war against the rezoning predators,
[Sample]
When they were saying it is the renaissance of Harlem,
They didn't mean that we had stake in that. They meant
to say that they could make money out of us. They are
coming in with all kinds of prejudices. In Brooklyn they're
doing the same thing. In Queens they're doing the same thing,
The Bronx, there's hardly any place which is affordable.
I mean those people are putting up condominiums which
start from a million dollars. How many people in this
community make that kind of money? How many people HAVE
that kind of money? People of Harlem, they are the natural
allies of the oppressed people of the world. Whether the
struggle is in Panama, in Africa, Cuba... We spend money
with the wrong people. We are looking for love with people
who don't love us. What's wrong with loving each other,
and making sure we are protected?