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People use what they heard in the media, and that’ s how they come at me, and then you know we gotta clash.
You ain’ t read the papers about these‘ skinheads’ tryna blow up Black churches. Why? They see me as the enemy, just like y’ all do.
And when I first got into jail, what they did to me, it didn’ t blow up all in the news. They didn’ t see me when my eye busted, my hair busted … You don’ t see those pictures. You see pictures of Tupac comin’ out of jail, in cuffs. You don’ t see pictures of the police standing over me beatin’ my brains out – you don’ t see that. But I see that.
What are some things you find wrong in society right now? There are so many things wrong in society right now, man. I mean, I am angry. I’ m extremely angry, confused … Um, a lot of the times I was standin’ in court, I couldn’ t defend myself. It wasn’ t that the things they were sayin’ to me were beyond my comprehension, or, um, the things that I was gonna say was gonna help me with my case. But because, it was like I was being exiled, you know, from society.
All I ever wanted to do was to make me, and everybody around me, feel more comfortable about where we were, you know what I’ m sayin’? About the places where we stay. Like, this is our home base – let’ s build and be happy about where we come from. Instead of just assimilating and tryna get a pass key to where they [ the Whites ] at.
Not to say that everything should be separate, but we gotta find pride in ourselves, know what I’ m sayin’. And once you get the pride, in about 2 seconds later, that’ s where the anger comes, from being held like that [ in exile ] for so long, and to be made to go through those changes – you get mad. The problems that we have, it don’ t just come from a White man, it comes from society.
What advice do you have for the younger generation of Blacks in America? I want them to start doing politics, instead of just passively listening about politics.
Be outspoken – be somebody, instead of try to make money off somebody. Learn from your mistakes in order to come back stronger, and ultimately, always put thought into what you do. That’ s it.
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