SOMOS ASIATICOS 

music, lyrics - Chris Iijima/Nobuko Miyamoto 

La lengua de libertad                               

Lyricos de amor

Canciones de la lucha

La musica del pueblo

This song was born in 1972, in a liberated zone New York City

Where anyone who had the heart and heard the beat could enter

This song was a victory cry for people who took over empty buildings for poor families

They called us squatters, but aren’t we all squatters here?

This song was a thank you to members of El Comite

Who helped find a gathering place for Asians in their territory

Where we could hear echoes of their congeros and swim the rivers of their struggles 

This song came with the help of my roommate, Aida Cuascut 

Not only did she help me with my Spanish 

She taught me to love cafe Bustello and cook aroz con pollo

In our neighborhood coffee house this song mingled with singers of Nueva Cancion 

From Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia

Their words flew like bullets and music fed the fire of struggle in their homelands 

For a moment in time the will of the people reigned here

We crossed invisible borders and dared to create what others couldn’t imagine

And we learned the power of the song

The power of the song was in the struggle that it came from

Yo para tu gente, tu para la mia              Me for your people, you for mine

Podemos hablar juntos                           We can speak together

Podemos cantar juntos                           We can sing together                              

Podemos pelear juntos                           We can fight together

Siempre juntos                                       Always together

Yo para tu gente, tu para la mia             Me for your people, you for mine