Oh, I
I used to believe
In their definition of free
I’d go to class
And days go by
While they taught someone else’s history

But when I left
For good this time
I found my story right here in this street
And when I came to tell ya
That I found the truth
They told me that God awful bad news
-
Chorus

They said a young man was
Shot down yester-eve
Another number and a non-white face
Well, hot damn, what’s come over me
My heart is beatin’, but I can’t feel a thing
Inside-out, it’s all empty
They teach us lies ‘til we dig our own graves
But not now, not me
Not ‘til I make the city sing your name
-
It’s tougher to buy your principal’s bullshit than a bullet
Discount ammunition at Walmart ain’t hard to sell
We both know there’s no part of a 16 year old
Bleedin’ from a hole in his chest that can be saved by the bell
I’m in it, I’m in it, from standardized lives to colonized minds
Who’da thought middle-age from brown males would be the age’a 8 and 9
They called a new principal to save ya school and make a scholar
But I wouldn’t trust that slave driver to save a dollar

Security and c-o-p’s God-complex’ll make ya holla
But hell forbid you teach how the rich stay rich and light a fire for the rest of the class to follow
A paper trail, all the way from the bottom to the H.M.I.C., intern to the top of the office
Of a school board flunkin’ a demographic to jobless, impoverished, or droppin’ dead
Droppin grades, poppin lead and droppin pens
I dropped the school and now I’m droppin’ ed. and droppin’ debt
Born upon a ledge and all they wanna do is push- push me off of it
But don’t get wide eyed and surprised when the precinct lieutenant is callin in

Chorus

United Crushers, we fight, fly, and die amongst us
Collide at lunch rush, a cafeteria of misguided assumptions
And the roof we’re under dudn’t do much but give in and catalyze the plunder
White principals tryin’ to find a resolution for the racial tension they never had to suffer
Books on books on books of A.P. U.S. History,
But somehow the syllabus always dodges John Brown and Garvey
It’s Malcolm X Day, no class for me.
I’m just kickin’ it with Driss and Abdulaziz

We were 10, with middle school dreams of becomin’ police, firemen, presidents, controllers
Of our destiny until the floor boards gave in and the curtain dropped down and exposed a joke
Of a system hegemonizin’ at-risk young minds, inner-city and all over
From becomin’ future Assata Shakurs and Billy Powell Chief Osceolas
This is money, politics, and race in motion
Somebody stop the car, we need to figure out where we’re goin’
No one’s exempt, we’re all in it over, and under
Givin’ all of everything just to avoid another…

Chorus
-
Bridge

Oh, I
I used to believe
In their definition of free
I’d go to class
And days go by
While they taught someone else’s history

But when I left
For good this time
I found my story right here in this street
And when I came to tell ya
That I found the truth
They told me that God awful bad news
-
Chorus

It was a young man, like you
On any eve
Wrong place, wrong time, everything
Leads up to this legacy
Of little pride and so much shame
But right now, you and me
Have the chance to steer our fate
So, no one dies in vain