Why We Exist

We're young people just like you. We're men, we're women, we're GI's, we're civilians. We're all stuck down here in Columbus or Ft. Benning because we can't just get up and leave. Either the army won't let us or we ain't got the money to leave town. But what we've learned is that even if we did, things wouldn't change that much. You may think that all you gotta do is change the place and change the faces and everything else changes.
So you go back home or you go to another city and what's really changed? Couple new buildings, different accent, different clothing styles, that's all. Nothing has really changed. You go back to school or try to get a job, you still gotta get a haircut, you still can't wear your skirt too short. You still gotta deal with racism. You're still supposed to say ‘sir’ to your ‘superiors’––the men with all the money. You still don't get paid for what you are worth––especially if you're not white or if you're a woman. You still don't know why you fought that war and you still don't know why you're gonna fight that next one.

That's why we're around. We can't just sit around and watch. We gotta get the word out. We gotta get people moving. We gotta get people to get up and do something. People all over the world are dying of starvation and getting killed while this country burns its surplus food. Even in this country people are starving, living in shacks, getting sterilised while a few rich people can buy anything they want and this includes newspapers so they can tell you how wonderful this country is and how bad the rest of the world is and not ever tell you why.

Rap!, no. 3

Library - Reading Room

Why We Exist