It's hard to figure out what to say about George Floyd

This man kneeled on a man's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds

Can you imagine that

I don't mean to get heavy but we gotta say something

I am the activist, I am the pacifist

I am the Malcolm X, I am the Kaepernick

I am authentic, never one to counterfeit

Encounters with the doubts of my duality been challenging

Who are you?

The one I grapple with or go to battle with?

Are you my ally, my oppressor, or my advocate

My face is blue, it's like the weight gon' make me crack

Prepared to face the truth or you still waiting for the facts? Hmm

My people stressed, they can't respect or trust the law

When those who should protect come at your neck, who do you call?

We rioting, protesting, just expressing our frustration

You more concerned with what's in store than what this country's taken from us

Stay at home to stay alive but we ain't safe inside

When will the day arrive where we enjoy the basic rights?

See all the hate and watch it permeate these days and times

I seen how far we came but know we got a ways to climb

We at the end of our rope, feel like they hung us

They might not claim the Klan but in some hoods they still among us, I

Cover my face, I gotta pray to God above us

I know it's crazy but I still believe somehow He love us

I love us, forreal

They hunt us, to kill

While every drop of blood is spilled y'all just sitting still, like it's cool

I guess it only happens in the news

I guess it ain't that bad until it's happening to you

Or maybe it's somebody you know

You know that one black friend you always claim for validation so you not a racist?

You and your black friend ain't never had that conversation

That ain't no real relationship, that's your imagination

Silence is deafening, we don't hear you talking

You think it's golden? That ain't wealth you holding

That's just help withholding

Don't wanna see or be outspoken, let your heart be broken

Once you've collected every piece, you'll see it's hard to hold it in

Now here we are again

We still the underdogs, against the odds, it's hard to win

They burned us down to ashes in this chapter, by the end

They gon' see us like a Phoenix, I believe we'll rise again

That's a promise, not a threat

That's a promise, not a threat

Yeah, I believe we'll rise again

That's a promise, not a threat

I can't tell you, as a man

Watching another man go through something like that

What it makes you feel like

For 8 minutes and 46 seconds

For 8 minutes and 46 seconds

I can't get that number out of my head

When I watched that tape

I understood that man knew he was gonna die

Watch one shooting after another

Eric Garner in New York

First guy that told police, "I can't breathe"

Eric Garner was selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island

Got murdered by one police officer while five of his fellow officers watched him do it

The guy killed the person that they were, uh, uh

Wha, what do you call it? Apprehending?

The guy was selling loose cigarettes

There goes Eric Garner

And then we have one after the other

Trayvon Martin, when he was murdered by George Zimmerman

Boy, how do we feel?

How do we feel lately?

This kid was 15 years old being followed by a grown man with a gun

We were very upset

This kid looked eerily like the President

Looked like my own children

Hit the streets, we got to marching

It goes on and on

And then, one weekend

A law-abiding citizen, right here, in Beavercreek, was murdered

He says, "Drop the weapon"

Bang Bang Bang

This kid didn't even have enough time to register that he was the one being smoked

Michael Brown got shot the same week, and Michael Brown became the story

Then

Am I boring you?

Well, then, right back in Minneapolis, is Philando Castile

Law-abiding citizen, he was a registered gun carrier

He was trying to show the police the paperwork for his registered weapon

And was murdered in front of his wife and his child

These are our people

The are our countrymen

We're not desperate for heroes in the Black community

"Oh, he was a this, he did that, he's a drug addict and he's not a hero

And why does the Black community make him a hero?

Why do you choose him as a hero?"

We didn't choose him, you did

They killed him, and that wasn't right, so he's the guy

This is not funny at all

These streets will speak for themselves, whether I'm alive or dead

I trust you guys, I love you guys

We'll keep this space open

This is the last stronghold for civil discourse

I love you very much

Thank you for being here, goodnight