Macklemore, Don P - City Don't Sleep lyrics

"I don't feel there's any point in trying to
Survive when people don't try to help me"
"When we we share a community
We should all be
Engaged and more involved in
Each other's wellbeing, you know?"

Now everyday that I walk outta my building
I see homeless people sleeping
And chillin' on the
Steps to the apartment that I live in
I’m not saying everyone’s a victim
But the people that I live with treat
‘em more like villains than actual citizens
I walk past a man laying in his own vomit
He gets his food and his garments
By digging in the garbage
I beg your pardon, Mr President
But I'm a resident
And since you've been in office
I haven't seen any evidence
Of things changin'
We go into Iraq and attack
When we got people on the streets
Without a roof over their back
We've come to accept the homeless
As part of our landscape
The money the government wastes could provide
Them with a safe place
To eat and sleep, but we cease to see
That our own country is based around war
Power and greed
We got families on the street
With nowhere to go
And the concrete's the only place
They have to call home

Nowhere to call your own
Out here in the cold wishing you had a home
Feeling you're all alone
Nowhere to call your own
Out here in the cold
Wishing you had a home (Yo)
Feeling all alone

Now every face tells a different story
A different message
Now how can we judge the book
When we don't know the beginning?
We don't know what turned 'em to the bottle
Or started injectin'
We just see dirty clothes
And another bum beggin'
We don't see the kid who was an addict
The second that his mom was pregnant
Or the young girl who was raped
And stripped of everything sacred
Who now stands downtown walkin'
On the block pacin'
'Cause the only way she knows how
To make it is gettin' naked
We don't want to face it
And it being the fact
That the government created the ghetto
And gave it crack
To oppress immigrants and blacks
And give 'em more of a setback
Like the last five hundred-years wasn't
Enough to accomplish that
Now look at the homeless rate
And tell me to my face that race
Doesn't play an intricate part in your
Fate in the United States
Now think about your home
And the place that you sleep
And the homeless, who only have the concrete

Nowhere to call your own
Out here in the cold wishing you had a home
Feeling you're all alone
Nowhere to call your own
Out here in the cold
Wishing you had a home (Yo)
Feeling all alone

Now if you wanna see change then
Throw your ones in the air
You think the system that we're
Living in is not fair?
You wanna see change? Then put
Your ones in the air
Now point it to the ground
'cause change starts right there
Now if you wanna see change then
Throw your ones in the air
You think the system that we're
Living in is not fair?
You wanna see change? Then put
Your ones in the air
Now point 'em to yourself
'cause change starts right there
'Cause change starts right there

The streets are cold, all alone in the city
Where you lay your head is your home
What a pity people pass you by with a glance
Say you're filthy but they don't know they
Pain you've been through no, not really