Brick By Brick & Disobey, by Dee Allen

BRICK BY BRICK
_______________

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Behind the razorwire
Concrete fences tall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Holding condemned men
One and all

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Spectre of death
Leaves a lingering pall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Sits one soul
Who don't belong here at all

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
While madness permeates
Every cage-filled hall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
While keeping him confined,
The system's servants have a ball

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
The voice of the voiceless
Won't be silenced or stalled

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Three decades too long
He don't belong here at all

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
He wasn't the cause of a
Racist cop's fatal fall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Straight into a
Concrete hell he was hauled

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Sentenced to death
Hanging judge had such gall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Innocent man needs release
He don't belong here at all

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Twenty-three hours in a cell
Time makes a slow crawl

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Awaiting fate,
Next dead man to walk the hall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Getting louder & closer-----
A distant human squall

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
Tearing down the structure
At liberation's call:

"BRICK BY BRICK
WALL BY WALL
FREE
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!"

DISOBEY
________

Pronounced guilty, the system wins
Swift punishment, for your sins
Drugs, theft of property by sons of poor mamas
Confinement in cages, heightens the trauma

Adorning white uniforms, conditions grave,
Sub-standard food, shackled wrists like a slave
Because penitentiary labour is labour without pay-----
Those didn't sit well with the enslaved one day

Guards summon the prisoners, don't expect them to ask
"Get out of your cells! Do your assigned tasks!"
But the prisoners refuse, inside cages they stay
The prisoners' unspoken vow, they choose to disobey

The warden loses his grip [ on the felons ], seething with hate
Lockdown imposed, self-contained policestate
But the prisoners won't move, inside cages they stay
The prisoners' unspoken vow, they choose to disobey

The warden shuts off the heat & hot water,
Disappearing some enslaved, vindictive moves of a coward
Though shivering from cold, inside cages they stay
The prisoners kept their vow, they choose to disobey

To regain control, the guards out into action
Smashed personal effects and violent extractions
But most prisoners hold it down, inside cages they stay
The prisoners kept their vow, they choose to disobey

Determined to be treated not like beasts but men-----
Contraband cellphones help the strike to extend
Human rights on the line, inside cages they stay
The prisoners strike for dignity, unify and disobey

Rogers, Hays, Telfair, Baldwin, Valdosta,
Hancock, Calhoun, Ware, Macon, Augusta-----
Throughout Georgia's prisons, inside cages they stay
Ten thousand strike for dignity, unify and disobey.
____________________________________________
[ For Annie Paradise. ]