The Last Poets Spoken Intro - Oh My People Lyrics

Oh my people, what is your worth?
What is your worth, what is your worth, child of the earth?
Are you like silver, diamonds or gold
increasing in value as you grow old?
Or are you like dew at the start of the day
like smoke in the wind, slowly fading away?
You cannot be measured in dollars or cents
You can only be measured in your deeds and intent
And what you achieve and how you relate
And what are your virtues and if you are great
Why you are here in this degraded old state
A victim of scorn, contempt and of hate?
Why can't your hearts be united as one
for a cause such as freedom for the future to come?
What kind of veils hide your eyes from the truth
why do you not research and establish the proof
of where you have come from and what was your way?
Let us find some solutions for the moral decay
that frightens our elders and shatters our homes
abandoning our offspring to a fate of their own
We must rise up, my people, from the depth of our dust
To a new understanding built on mutual trust
To some solid achievements and a new way of life
bringing end to the conflicts and eternal strife
that plagues our existence and threatens our end
We must define our enemy and l___ who is our friend
And then, my people, and only then
can we raise up our heads among the nations of men
Reclaiming our birth right, reasserting our pride
reuniting our families, increasing our stride
New rules of our choosing, new goals to attain
One god, one destiny one people, one aim
And oh my people, what a wonderful day
when we use our talent in a positive way
Providing ourselves with the things that we need
Purging our systems of envy and greed
Reshaping our image, emerging as one
setting righteous examples for the children to come
Then maybe, my people, just maybe you'll find
some joy that's been hidden in your s___e in time
And in your a__ent you will find that it's true
there is no treasure more precious than you
Oh my people, what is your worth
What is your worth, what is your worth, child of the earth?