This is the Way I Feel by Ras Paulo on The Pipeline at IndieMusicPeople

This is the Way I Feel
They stress my brain all the time!
Upper-class has it all!
Never the less but I have a lot of friends around the world. They send me letters mails, they phone me, there are always good people around the world.

But differently I feel like a prisoner of somebody there’s no freedom at all I feel like I m just a stock of something good that they take advantage on.

I don’t get no place to walk, if I stand somewhere on street suddenly they come to me asking for document everywhere is dark, cold no freedom at all, they talk to much most of theirs activities is illegal in the eyes of the God. Most of the nations they don’t produce nothing good, nuclear weapons, their sexual appeal all the time increasing AIDS ’
Paradise might be somewhere else!
Where Happiness Lives My Friend

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Stoneman

7/2/2011 10:22:07 AM ---- Updated 7/2/2011 10:28:32 AM

Your feelings are valid. I can relate! It is all the same around the world. Everywhere you go there is someone who has their foot firmly planted on the neck of someone else. They keep mashing and grinding with all their might. Trying to take away their natural born rights. It has always been this way. However, just as the abolitionists risked their own lives for the sake of freedom, so are there many who seek humanness from the ungodly. They pursue fairness in the face of status quo injustice.

Truly, I have seen freedom in the most curious places. I have walked through the doors of hell and observed murderers, robbers, gang bangers and life long criminals who walk down concrete halls with gates that clang behind them. For many, the clanging of those gates serve as reminders that they may never see the city lights or smell the salty ocean again. I have walked down the narrow corridors of death row and looked into the eyes of the condemned. I submit to you that some of them have a light of freedom in their eye's that out shines those of us who claim to be free. Those of us who rise and fall according to our own will. Those of us who eat what we feel like eating and make love in the morning Sun. My conclusion? Freedom is a state of mind. It is a power that cannot be defeated by entities who require documents, papers or even a California Drivers License. I often wonder when the world will start seeing the lands of the world as the homes of all humans. Here in California I see Latino men standing on the corner with the hopes of getting a job for the day. Whenever a certain car arrives they scatter and hide in the crevices of the streets. Their biggest nightmare is that the authorities might order them to produce their documents. During hard times, human beings always find other human beings to blame for their personal and collective plights. Back in the days of slavery a Black man who traveled without some documentation from his master was in fact committing a crime that was punishable by death. It is not much different these days on the streets of Los Angeles. The first thing they ask for is documentation of who you are. One wrong flinch and you are dead. Mistakes happen so often. A man in Oakland was shot in the back of the head while he was hand cuffed. They ruled it a mistake and the officer spent less than a year in jail. The times change but the social status of the victims remain the same. Be it class, race, religion or even sexual preference, we are all subject to documentation law.

I have had my face down on the pavement so many times in my life. The smell of the dirty street is not foreign to my senses. Nor is the taste of dirt in my mouth. I have felt the manacles around my wrists and a cops boot on my back. I have looked into the site of a double barreled shot gun. I have heard their laughter as I complained that I was only on my way home from work. They roared when I screamed that I had done nothing wrong. My physical freedom only came after they saw my documents (Alameda Corrections dept. Chaplain I.D.). It was only then that they admitted I was not the man they were chasing. No apology, no explanation. Just a demand that I get my Black Ass home. I took my Black ass home. But in my mind, I remain free. In my heart I remain human. I am stronger than them. So are you. You are free! All you have to do is believe it. Babylon has one direction. We are not going that way. We are free from the sins of the inhumane. Ignore the physical restraint and concentrate on a reality that cannot be locked up. It cannot be moved to a different corner, neighborhood or even a prison cell. Concentrate on a love of self and others that is so strong that nothing can move it. Nothing can question it. Nothing can destroy it. Nothing and no one can demand proof that it exists.

I have given so much to my nation. I have risked so much. I have trudge through the jungles of a foreign land with a gun in my hand. I have carried the body bags of my fallen friends. In my youth, I was silly enough to believe that killing my nations enemies was a worthy cause. Dieing for my nation would prove that I deserve the respect of all Americans. I almost gave my life for the sake of this land that demands I show documents and treats me, my children and my grandchildren like second hand citizens. I have endured being spit on and being called names that are so offensive that my heart broke each time I heard it. But love is so much stronger than hate. I learned that as an abused and abandoned child. Love endures all. It just keeps growing and infecting those who are around you and in turn they infect others. It goes out over the internet in a song and comes back with smiles from those who feel what you play or sing. It is love that keeps me free. It keeps me strong and keeps me optimistic that one day I may be asked for my documents but I won’t be forced to lay face down in the dirt. An even better day would be a day when no one asked me or anyone else for their documents just because of the way they look. But even if that day never comes, I will be forever free in my mind. My father, his father and their fathers passed the secret down to me. They taught me that no matter what people do, they can’t take away your freedom. Ras, they can’t take away yours either. Believe it and you receive it. Freedom! It is only a state of mind and happiness can live inside of you.

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Shoe City Sound

7/2/2011 5:17:34 PM

Stoneman - what an amazing post - and I believe what you say that no one can take your freedom from you and this is what makes the frightened people of the world so sadistic - total fear of you and anyone that walks the earth with love ... they know the power of this and it's limitless nature and this terrifies them.

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Richard Scotti

7/2/2011 5:29:00 PM ---- Updated 7/2/2011 5:33:53 PM

Stoneman ~ You should write a musical about your life and your views on life in general. I think it would be a hit on broadway. Your great music and your life are so intertwined. It would be inspirational to see your journey.

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Tom O'Brien

7/2/2011 7:50:45 PM

Stoneman, you have an enviable, indominatible spirit. It's true what you say, that freedom is a state of mind. No one will ever take yours from you, no matter how many wrongs have been visited upon you.

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Stoneman

7/4/2011 10:05:16 AM

Thanks so much Delores, Richard & Tom. The best thing about my life is that I have had so many victories over hardships and trauma. It has been a tough life but the ending (so far) has been very happy. I am blessed beyond measure and that is why I take the time to try to lift others up by sharing my story. It is impossible for me to read a post like this and not be inspired to share.

Much Respect To Ras And All Of You!
Stoneman

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Chandra Moon

7/4/2011 10:54:52 AM

wow amazing stuff here from Ras and Stoneman!

I've overcome a lot of trauma as well and also have found that the freedom we seek is indeed inside us all along if we're lucky enough to discover it right under our own noses!!! I could write a lot about this but Stoneman has said it all!!!

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