Salute to my soldiers
To my soldiers i salute you and ill never forget you
I know your sacrifice and ill never turn my back on your struggle
And i'm thankful for everything you do
For everything you stand to loose
While you navigate your path to freedom
By flickering street lights and sweaty money
Traded for momentary amnesia and fleeting happy
I bow my head in respect for what you have given up
For the lie you count at the end of the night
Signed “In God we trustâ€
Success already denied but failure isn’t an option
So perseverance is a must
To my soldiers some of you have lost your lives
So i pour out the top of my bottle
You won't be forgotten but a shot should help ease the pain
Some of you have lost your freedom
So i write letters addressed with love and respect
Letting you know ill always remember more than your assigned number
Because you were loved enough
To be given a name
Even though an attempt to take away
Who you are has been made
Don't forget you're more than what you do
And I'm giving truth back
To my soldiers my loyalty is
Unwavering and steadfast
I understand the reason why
Even when the rest of the world condemns you
Because they refuse to understand your struggle
So they judge you without seeing you
And slam the gavel
And write your future in sentences
That will never address your value
But do take away your time
Their final verdict will write away your life
And they do it all those closed eyes
To my soldiers
I know the reason you stand on dark corners
Strapped and loaded
Ready to defend your block
And your dope boy knot and
The hustle you bleed for
The one you lose sleep for
I know why so with open eyes
I salute you my soldiers who fight a battle
That is also mine
One that is given no mentioned in history books
Because majority rules
And they call it breaking the law
But I know it's a battle fought and sometimes lost
We call it survival and it's what we've been fed to
So it's what we break our backs for
If no one else tells you I'm thankful
Even if those pretending to look down
Refuse to see it I do
I know flipping burgers doesn't
Buy peace or cover the cost of a dream
My eyes are open and
I see the shoes with a little room to grow
Piano lessons and your children smiles
It's what you hustled all night for
To my soldiers I'm proud that I know you
And I stand behind your decision to pull
The trigger because I know you did it to save
More than a pocket full of unknown figures it was
A decision of his eat and you'res don't
So you did what they wont
Then you pray that nothing takes
Innocence from thier dreams
My understanding and salute to your bravery
Im giving you in place of a metal
You'll never receive because to them
We are all the enemy
I pray for the day your worth is weighed
By jury of your peers instead
Of a stranger who sees you as a conduit
To place their fears
Everyday I take a moment of silence
Hoping to see that those on the other side
If repressing enemy lines
Open their eyes and try to understand
That we are only hustlin
For what they know as a birthright
We just want a bite of the american pie
Off the silver spoon they expect
But we've all been denied
They're not better than us and we're not less
The only reasonable conclusion I can shake from this mess
Is a line in the sand drawn with our blood
The line between old money & social economic standing
And easy on the so-called American eye
Struggling single mothers
Immigrated here for a chance at better
Undereducated going nowhere baby fathers
The mess on the other side
Crying truths they try to hide in addictions
Broken homes and iron cages
Using shallow education designed for us
To never learn that we are being held here for a reason
We are prisoners of a war
Being held captive for someone else’s treason
To my soldiers
Who suffered here who bleed here who cry here then ***ing die here
So that they're self-centered importance means something
Without our pride and our heads to stand on
Without our lives and sacrifices to be above
Their upper class means nothing
Equality would take over and our children would all grow to be leaders
They would be good students and good teachers
But we know to want an opportunity to succeed is a sin
But I'm not afraid so I shout your stories over repression and doubt
And tell it how it really is because your sacrifice is the same as mine
So I salute you even when no one else will
To those who hustle hard so our children have safety
And blankets to dream under
I pour out my liquor
To my soldiers who died I won't forget you
And I'll continue telling your story
How I see it through my eyes