Prison Radio
Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

We remain oppressed
Made weary
Confused in our struggles
By conspiracy theories

Just another brand
Of superstition
To keep us on a mission
And the real truth missing

Why we’re oppressed
And by whom
Distracted from seeing
The elephant in the room

From Illuminati and Jews
To Freemasons
We think secret organizations
Cause our exploitation

When the true enemy
Hides right in plain sight
Those with the real power
The rich wrapped in white

When I say white
I don’t mean just skin
But those who separate us
By color and the class we in

The rich capitalists
They’re the real ops
Who uphold their control
Through soldiers guards and cop

And a culture that teaches
They should be on top
Entertainment media
Glamorize them nonstop

While the rest must
Sell them our labor power
Hour by hour
Slaves whose lives they devour

We’re the ones
Who produce all the wealth
That they steal and hoard
Hidden on their shelf

Withholding resources
Out of greed that we need
To control our lives
And feed our seeds

Conspiracy theories
Are a distraction
From the cause of our suffering
To confuse our reactions

While the real power
Lies with the richest
Paid politicians do their bidding
And spit empty sales pitches

About democracy
Being in everyone’s hands
So why are most politicians
Rich white men?

With a few dark folks
And women on the side
Tokens used for stroking us
To go along for the ride

Keep us from uniting and fighting
Like in the past
They HAD to make some concessions
So their system could last

Then distract us
So we don’t see clearly
Confusing the real enemies
With conspiracy theories

Scapegoats
And exclusive boy’s clubs
Are not the cause
Of poverty crime sickness wars and drugs

Nor racism sexism
And other contradictions
That the rich manufacture
To keep the masses in division

The oppressed at each
Other’s throats
While they sit laughing at the top
In swallow tails and topcoats

Amused by their
Successes of the past
Tricking us from fighting to overthrow them
To now imitating their class

No secret societies
Put Blacks on plantations
Nor robbed this land
From the Indian Nations

It was chasing the dollar
And selfish greed
These were the seeds
That created the need

For stolen land and labor
That produced
The cotton and produce
That rich whites used

To seize wealth and power
In the first place
From which suffering continues
Different name same face

Compare the similarity
Of the station
Of yesterday’s slaves
To today’s occupations

Slaves worked
For the owner’s profits
They produced the goods and services
He sold on the market

He had to keep them fit
To make his wealth
So he fed clothed and sheltered them
Kept them in good health

Allowed some diversions
To keep their minds fit
To distract them from the suffering
He made them live with

Compare this
To workers today
Instead of an owner’s upkeep
The boss pays a small wage

To buy diversions
And basic things to survive
But they gotta keep working for the boss
To keep the family alive

The boss is
The modern slave master
He profits from the workers’ labor
Press them to work more and faster

The only difference
Master provided for the slaves
While the workers buy their own
With a substandard wage

If the slaves rose together
They’d own it all and be free
The same if workers seized
The offices and factories

The boss class is the enemy
Just like the slavers
But they got us thinking capitalism
Works in our favor

For those who know different
The bosses can’t let us see clearly
That they’re the real enemy
This is the role of conspiracy theories