Homeboy Sandman - Black People Are Cowards" DONALD STERLING response lyrics

In light of the recent
Decision by a professional
Basketball team, comprised of
Mostly black players
To respond to their boss basically saying
"I hate niggers" by turning
Their shirts inside out the next day at work
I have come to the
Decision that I agree wholeheartedly with the
Owner of the Los Angeles Clippers
And I too do not want black
People invited to my events

It’s not for the same reasons
That the Clippers’ owner
Doesn’t want black people invited
To his events to be honest I don’t really
Know what his reasons
Are perhaps he recently tuned in to an
FM "hip hop" station and after
Hearing song after drug, sex
And violence laden song decided that it
Might be a good idea to keep some distance
Perhaps his media conditioning
Spans beyond music
Encompassing the gamut of
Stereotype-enforcing media
(media championed and praised by blacks
Where the most rich and famous
Coons are praised and
Idolized as examples of black
"success") maybe he’s
Been hanging out with George Zimmerman
And they’ve been watching Love &
Hip Hop, and Basketball Wives, and
The Tyler Perry collection
And Katt Williams and
Kevin Hart performances
(anybody catch that Kevin Hart movie with
The ex rapper who used
To have a song standing up
Against police brutality playing a
Police officer? Where Hart delivers the line
That Zimmerman had no doubt
Heard a thousand different times in
A thousand different ways
Shifting his psyche to the point where
He could be authentically terrified of
Someone just because they were black
"you’re white you don’t fight")

No, I’m lucky enough to
Spend enough time with
Black people to recognize that we’re not
The base form of human life that we
Continue to support ourselves
Being portrayed as (though admittedly
It definitely rubs off on us a lot so
Much so that it’s very puzzling to comprehend
How we could blame anyone who doesn’t get to
Spend much time with us for fostering
A wildly skewed perception what can people
Know but what they see?) no
I don’t want black
People to stay away from my events because I
Believe them to be uncivilized, or ignorant
Or anything like that

I don’t want black people
At my events anymore
Because black people are cowards

In all the history I’ve ever studied, in
All the fiction I’ve ever read, i am
Hard pressed to find an example of cowardice
To rival the modern day black American
And nobody wants to be
Surrounded by cowards right?

What if lions break out of the zoo
And start trying to eat everyone?
What if aliens attack? What if the
Police department decides that they
Want to grab their batons and blow
Off some steam? Are cowards really
The type of people that you
Want to be surrounded by? Not me

Black People Are Cowards
That’s why I don’t want black people at
My events anymore athletes that could refuse
To perform until a killer is arrested
Even until a killer is convicted
Who instead opt for taking a picture
Where they all have their
Hoods on and then carrying on
With business as usual: I
Don’t want to be surrounded be these
Clowns if you’re black, or white
And you go back to work after
Finding out that your boss
Is grossed out at the idea of
Being in the same vicinity with
Any black person except for the
Cutie he’s sugar daddy to
I’m pretty sure you’re not who
I want in my corner
During crunch time real crunch
Time life crunch time

The most common excuse I’ve heard for today’s
Cowardice is "they need to feed their
Families, " which of course is a euphemism
For "for the money" You know
The blacks that sold
Other blacks into slavery
There’s a good chance they used some
Of that money to feed
Their families too so, that makes them cool
With all of y’all? Here’s a question
Is there anything that we won’t do for money?
Is getting paid an excuse
For everything? It’s
An excuse for looking the other way when
Innocent people are killed it’s an excuse
For supporting racism by trying
To win a championship
For an openly racist owner with regard
To hip hop and media it’s an excuse
For purposefully, and most often deceitfully
Representing yourself and your
Culture as pretty much scum who can only
Be validated by money thanks in
Large part to the exceptional
(it’s sad just how exceptional) bravery
Of Michelle Alexander (author
Of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in
The Age of Colorblindness) we
Live in a society
Where each day more and more people
Realize the obvious truth that
The goals of the
Criminal justice system have way more to do
With black enslavement than rehabilitation
Or keeping people
Safe facing the reality of modern slavery
We continue to allow
Ourselves to be enslaved day after day
(Granted, fear of death is a
Far cry from fear
Of lack of wealth, but they’re both fear
The currency of cowardice) As KRS-One
(whose "Sound of Da Police" was actually
The theme song for the trailer of
That ridiculous movie I referenced earlier
Which all but
Brought a tear to my eye) , pointed
Out on his classic "Black Cop
" many policemen and policewomen
Are now earning paychecks
For gathering up their own brothers and
Sisters, on charges that perpetually lead to
A slap on the wrist
For whites but somehow manage to
Be the first domino
In a lifetime of enslavement for
Blacks these cops get to
Use the "feeding my family" line
Too we accept it, and go about
Our day, meek, bullied, and afraid to assert
Authority against anyone but each other
And amongst each other asserting
Authority with a ferocity
That could only be explained by the
Rage of hundreds of years
Of being bullied by everybody else
In New York City
Where infiltration and displacement
Are referenced using
The the thinly veiled insult "gentrification"
(look up the root word "Gent" If
We accept and use a term
The very definition of which suggests that
Communities are becoming more noble
And graceful, what does that say about the
People being pushed out?)
Natives know better than to display
Any aggression towards white newcomers
But are as quick as ever to stare down an
Unfamiliar black face who isn’t
From the neighborhood

What do you call people who walk quietly to
Slavery? Who allow themselves to
Be insulted without
Standing up for themselves beyond
Wardrobe adjustments that in
Reality are nothing but a public show
Of shame? What do you
Call people that pretend
That these ridiculous gestures actually
Hold some weight
Rather than face the fact that we are
The laughing stock of the entire planet
And as long there’s the chance
That someday maybe we’ll be
Rich there’s nothing that we’re going
To do about it?

I call us cowards

It’s almost as if people have forgotten that
Struggle includes struggling you might have
To lose your job you might have
To lose your life that’s
What it takes for change to happen
There’s no easy way to do
This if you’re scared to stand up
For yourself, for whatever reason
All I ask is that you stop pretending stop
With the Facebook posts stop
With the meaningless
Conversations just stop be honest
About how you
Behave about your part in all this
Madness about what you are a coward just a
Coward no need to put on an
Act for the rest of us we can
All see right through each other

One last thing

For those of you who have made
It this far without stopping
For how furious at me your
Shame has made you
I want you to know something i don’t really
Think black people are cowards i think humans
Are cowards most of us i think
That regardless of where one’s
Phenotype places them
Within the imaginary concept of race
That the majority of us are
Content to live on
Our knees rather than die on our feet

The problem is, we, us, black people
Can’t afford to be like everyone else anymore
Not if we want to survive i
Don’t know how we got here, but everywhere
You look we’re at the bottom of the
Global totem pole we need to make
History we can’t be cowards like every one
Else, not any more in fact
We need to set a new standard for heroism
For bravery for courage maybe a standard
Never before seen in the history of humankind
Extreme situations call for extreme measures
And in modern times our
Inferiority is ingrained
In every single aspect of our lives
From our media, to our religion, to
Our science, to our public education
To our higher
Education, to Africa appearing to
Be the same size
As Greenland on all of the maps
Despite the fact that in reality Africa is
14 times larger it’s harder to
See our enemies than it’s ever been our
Enemy isn't white people it's people who
Value greed more than human
Life racial division
Is one of their oldest weapons, and
Media is their latest we
Mustn’t forget how young
This weapon is i didn’t grow up
Using the Internet the television
It'self isn’t even 100 years old the idea of
Global celebrity, and global transference of
Ideas and perceptions of culture
Has never existed the
Way it does today just as Howard
Beale prophesized in Network in 1976
We’re up against "the most awesome God damned
Propaganda force in the whole Godless world"

We’re going to have to step it up

If you’re down to step it up
Let’s step it up let’s
Boycott boycott was the
Foundation of the Civil Rights
Movement do you believe that a cable network
Exists solely to manipulate
The perception of black people? Stop watching
It don’t put up a post one day praising
The episode of Boondocks that never aired and
Then spend the next day tweeting the entire
BET awards that doesn’t make any sense

Let’s step it up if every NBA
Player who wanted to stand up
Against racism vowed not to play
Until the Clippers’ owner resigned
It would be announced that he
Resigned before you were finished
Reading this if he didn’t want to
Someone would make him if we
Boycotted every night spot
That spins music about how
Much we love killing
Each other and taking and selling drugs
Every single one of them would have
New DJs by next week
(don’t even get me started on
These new DJs the new
Drug dealers admitting that they
Know what they’re giving
People is bad for them but
Caring more about getting
Paid) i went to DJ Spinna’s Michael Jackson
Prince party at SRBs last night and
There was more dancing and
Mirth and free love in that
Place than every hip hop
Party in NYC in the last 10
Years put together so when
People tell you that we need
Ratchet nonsense to dance
They’re gaming you don’t be so gullible don’t
Act like black people only found out
How to have fun when we lost our
Connection to our own human decency

Let’s step it up and not buy
Magazines pushing music designed to
Glamorize a lifestyle certain to land
Our youth in prison
Let’s step it up and take off from work
And stay home with our kids until these
Preposterous tenure rules are revoked
From public schools and
It’s the kids that can’t be fired
Not the teachers

Let’s step it and use social media
To rally each other everybody knew
About that woman who fired a warning
Shot and got 20 years
(I hear she’s been released now no thanks to
Us) everybody knows about that woman who got
However many years for leaving
Her child in the car while she went to a job
Interview every single week all
Over Facebook there’s a
New video of someone catching a beating as
Bad as the one Rodney King caught, but
I never see a post that says
"Share this if you’ll go on strike from
Work until these police officers are
Fired" "Share this if you’ll strike until
This woman is released" "Share this
If you won’t spend a single dollar until
Troy Davis is released from death
Row and granted a new trial" Can
You imagine the impact that
That would have? Everybody is always
Trying to act there’s
No solutions there are plenty
Of solutions we're
Just too cowardly to implement
Them worried about this
Discomfort or that discomfort
Great or small
That might take place as a result
Having to find a new place
To party or a new show to
Watch isn’t the discomfort of
Oppression enough? There’s plenty
Of solutions, just no easy ones
But, if we can shift to
Courage instead of cowardice
There’s more than enough solutions to
Guarantee our success guarantee
Next time you’re complaining about how this
Country was built on us, take a second
To think about the fact that it
Still is if we want to
We can shut this whole place down

So make a decision between cowardice and
Courage, and if you choose courage
Step it up step it up in any of the myriad
Of ways that are available to us i’ve named a
Few name a few more leave
A few suggestions in
The comments section call up
Your friends tweet facebook

Then start doing them if you can’t convince
Anyone to do them with you
Do them on your own start
Right away because we’re running
Out of time i hear some states are fining
People for sagging their pants i’d
Never sag my pants
But, if we begin to allow people
To be penalized simply for
Attributes that we’ve
Allowed to be associated with being black
We’re going to find the water
Getting even hotter very soon

We’ve been cowards for a very
Long time we have a lot of catching up to do
Let’s start right now

For those of you who don’t
Want to step it up
Do me a favor and at least unfriend me