Diamonds of Anger Fred Small Am The boy rolls the hoop past the barricade G Dm pushing it fast with a stick that he made from a coat-hanger C G Am The hoop is a wheel of rusted steel from a junkyard bicycle Am The girl on the corner plays the guitar G It's a petrol can with strings of wire Dm She sings a song from the tribal days E Am but the words are new she sings Amandla Blond surfers on white sandy beaches wait for the perfect wave the sky has no clouds at sunset they go home the signs say no dogs or natives allowed Nervous white boys in combat gear speed through the township in armored trucks people scatter but the soldiers run them down kick them until blood runs from their mouths CHORUS: Am G Crossroads we are diamonds of anger F we are brilliant gold Dm Every blow makes us stronger G the chain cannot hold Em We are rocks against tear gas F we are songs against guns C we are life against terror G Am we have already won The old woman waits for the broken down bus to take her from this shantytown of tin and paper No toilet no running water The street is already hot She rides to the white homes of Johannesburg To mop the kitch tile polish the silver whipe the babies' bottoms she must leave by nightfall Sixteen on trail for plotting revolution Charged with singing songs of freedom or being present when these songs were song or writing pamphlets or speaking at meetings Botha tells the whites what they want to hear The holy votes he needs are theirs Crazed with their backs to the sea drunk with the fear of retribution CHORUS: BRIDGE: Dm F C Black babbies white babbies still reach for each other G fingers stretching from the passing prams Bb C Em Am Eyes amazed and smiling through doors and broken windows straining to touch Behind the silence of Pollsmoor Prison Nelson Mandela reads the international press Recieves foreign visitors The chief in exile the lion at bay Give up violence say the key-jangling jackels HE answers let those who shoot my people Beat with whips torture with electodes Let these renounce violence and I will walk free Teenagers born since he was imprisoned Hear his voice though they have never seen him Feel the tremor of righteous fury A vision burning a tidal wave coming New leaders born in the schoolyards and churches Forged in the mines singing at funerals Turning to block the blow as it's falling Seizing the whiphand standing rejoicing CHORUS: