Transcript You Don’t Even Know Me

I sit in your class
I play by the rules
I’m young
I’m fly
I’m black.
So of course I think I’m cool
Geometry is my thing,
Physics is a breeze.
So it bothered me last week
When you said I should be happy with that C.
You know,
I’ve been wondering lately,
Trying to figure out just how it could be
That you’re around me so often
And still don’t know a thing about me.
,
You
See me on TV,
Marching in the band,
Then you flick the channel
And there I am again,
Cuffs on my hands,
A coat over my head,
The news anchor warning that I’m someone you
should dread.
The police say I’m a menace,
That you should be on the alert.
The nightly news recounts all the people they say
I’ve hurt.
The mayor says I’m a threat,
Psychologists call me depressed,
Bloggers can’t figure out what’s up with me,
so
they make up all the rest.
You know,
I’ve been wondering lately,
Trying to figure out how it could be
That you see me so often
And still don’t know a thing about me.
I live next door to you,
You see me on the bus.
Sometimes you tell me just be quiet childhush.
Then I’m out with my boysTwo, five, or even tenIt’s funny when that happens, you don’t
seem to know me then.
I’m just another black boy,
A threatening scary sight.
A tall, black, eerie shadow
Moving toward you late at night.
You know,
I’ve been wondering lately,
Trying to figure out just how it could be
That you could talk to me so often
And still not know a thing about me.
We hang on the corner together,
Holding up the wall,
I tell you my dreams,
You just wanna talk basketball.
I pull out my plans
Detailing the cities I’ll rebuild one day,
Swearing
That people will know my name across the
USA.
You tell me to quit fronting,
You ask who I think I am,
Pretending
That I’m better than you know I really am.
You talk about my house,
The clothes I wear sometimes,
Then you really hit me with what’s been on
your mind.
You know,
I’ve been wondering lately,
Trying to figure out just how it could be
That we call each other brother,
And you still don’t know a thing about me.
Last night I had a dream
I flew right past the stars.
No one was holding their pocketbooks,
Or double-locking cars.
I chatted with the moon,
Calculated the circumference of the sun.
Then right before I awoke
I decided to take a run.
I ran across the Milky Way,
Stole a peek at Saturn’s ring,
Hip-hopped across the Universe.
I was me.
I could do anything,
So I dived in a million black holes,
Rested my feet on the north and south poles.
Slipped into my mother’s dreams,
My daddy’s nightmares, too.
We talked about my future and the great
things that I would do.
But dreams don’t last forever
And night turns into day,
Where people who don’t even know you
Try to block tomorrow’s way.
But nothing can ever stop me,
Keep me
From what’s mine.
The stars
On fire
Inside me
Shining
Refining
Reminding
Me
That only I define me
And
The brightness of my destiny.