Saul Williams
FCK THE BELIEFS
Some thoughts traveled from distant places
Are not born within our borders
And must pass through heightened security fortified by age old tradition
The norms of societal culture
The misgivings of prejudice and misplaced judgement
In order to arrive peacefully in our minds

Our minds are high-walled fortresses
Where Security Councils gather to preserve comfort
Enforce what we have been taught to value
And discern and determine what is real

We depend on our minds to guide and aid us from one day to the next
Some of us see our minds like muscles
That we exercise with theorems, riddles, thoughts, and thought processes
We gather and store information
We play word games, rap, solve problems, work to the best of our abilities
We also accept or reject labels and categorizations at face value
Black, white, terrorist, suspect
Gay, straight, religious, Republican
We sometimes choose lifestyles
Based upon these accepted labels and categorizations
Those that we identify with
Which then take the form of beliefs

Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind

They are either uniform or universal, armed or unarmed
They hold the power to confiscate material they consider hazardous or incredible
They profile experience as bullshit, nonsense, get the fuck out of here
They convene regularly with the thought Security Council
And act according to their Constitution of what is real or unreal, possible or impossible
And they are sometimes, and often, mistaken

My question to you today is what is your mind's immigration policy?
Do you detain foreign thoughts that may have entered your mind illegally Against the wishes of your parents, pastors, teachers, leaders
Or perhaps simply against the security of your own comfort?

Are there other thoughts that you have perhaps allowed to go unchecked, unquestioned
Because they seem aligned with your
Aligned with your so-called identity?
Are you certain that you are not a victim of identity fraud?

Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind

President of Archaeological Indifference
Vice-President of Truth
Secretary of Statistics
Minister of Celebrity Injustice
Chief of Staff and Serpent
Blessed Page Turner of the Great Book of Misdeeds and Overestimations
Bishop of the Great Climate War
Minister of the Deteriorating Sky
Baron of Epic Boredom and Self-Indulgence
All gathered notables, I greet you on behalf of the Great Almighty, who was unable to pull himself from what many are calling the greatest unscripted reality show of all time
The very conducting of your lives and attitudes
We're very proud of the success of our show and network
Not only have we successfully created racists, bigots, arrogant countrymen, patriots, heartless capitalists
We have also maintained our position as the misbegotten, the pure of heart, the heavenly dove, the docile lamb, and the forgiving wife

If our Great Almighty could be with us this evening, he would surely want each and every one of you to know that he graciously accepts your inability to pay your rent, that he is willing to allow you to do some of his work so that we might lessen gaps between the employed and unemployed

It's not easy to sit back and allow countless genocides
Watch innocence murdered
See trickery and deceit override common sense and human compassion
And keep one's thumb held steadily on the remote control

Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind
Beliefs are the police of the mind