Ten Demands Lyrics

[INTRO: AWKWORD]

Being an abolitionist requires unlearning every single thing we've been told about jails, prisons, and police since birth

To consider people as full human beings, instead of “monsters” and “psychos”

To prioritize community over our selfish need for revenge

This is AWKWORD

TEN DEMANDS

And they're about to find out

[VERSE 1: AWKWORD]

Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground /
Badgeless federales sweep you up without a sound /
Now they're crying for the constitution, but the movement /
Moving since the dissolution of the institution /
Of slavery, to the Slave Codes, made to be, new slaves /
With new chains, in chain gangs, to Jim Crow /
They imputed crime to color, collapse communities for profit /
Stop and frisk on body cams, reform's not for stopping it /
But rather rendering a system even more permanent /
So the rich rely on cops, and the cops do the murdering /
The media reports, to ensure the social scare /
So everyone fears a world, if cops weren't there /
Statistics show, cops are trained for collecting collars /
And punitive systems, produce recidivists and dollars /
If you're poor, Black and brown, you're born to the siren sound /
Tell me, how much money are we paying so you'll beat us down?
[HOOK: Jesse Jett]

One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?

One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?

[VERSE 2: AWKWORD]

How much are we paying for the cops and cages /
Patrolling and chasing, turn the block to Hades /
Controlling the nation, no pops for babies /
We been selling and throwing, rocks for ages /
There's no education, so we clock for wages / There's no medication, so there's stock in the basement /
No justifaction, pop with no hesitation /
No reparations, so we fight the enslavement

[HOOK: Jesse Jett]

One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?
One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?

[VERSE 3: AWKWORD]

The revolution's now, we still can't breathe /
You think it's revolutionary, defunding police? /
That's phase one, we will abolish the beast /
Demilitarize, and allocate funds to our needs /
Cops don't stop crime, so we're placing peace keepers /
Training counselors, mediators and teachers /
Freeing protesters, political leaders /
And blasting revolutionary rap from the speakers /
We getting reparations, and apologies /
For past and current crimes, damaged psychologies /
The war on drugs is over, watch the drop in all the robberies /
Close the jails and prisons, equalized economy /
Try to try me, and we can still be enemies /
In this new society, without the death penalty /
No illegal immigrants, no victims in the pens /
No corporate profiting, no crime and punishment /
We'll tend to mental ailments, applying intervention /
Ending the surveillance, denying all detention /
Rebuilding our communities, village by village /
It's time to check your white male heterosexual privilege
[HOOK: Jesse Jett]

One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?

One time, I'll say it out loud, honey: /
To a riot cop, three is a crowd /
How much money are we paying right now /
So you'll beat us down?

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