Here in America in every single state
they have a set of standards for every subject
a collection of lessons that the teacher’s
required to teach by the end of the term
but the greatest lessons you will ever teach us
will not come from your syllabus.
the greatest lessons you will ever teach us
you will not even remember
you never told us what we weren’t allowed to say
we just learned how to hold our tongues
now somewhere in America there is a child
holding a copy of “Catcher in the Rye”
and there is a child holding a gun.
but only one of these things have been banned
by their state government and
it’s not the one that can rip through flesh
it’s the one that says “fuck you”
on more pages than one
because we must control what the people say
how they think.
and if they wanna become the overseer
of their own selves
then we’ll show them a real one
and somewhere in America
there’s a child sitting at his mother’s computer
reading the homepage of the KKK’s website
and that’s open to the public
but that child will have never read
“To Kill a Mockingbird”
because his school has banned it
for its use of the n-word
Maya Angelou is prohibited
because we’re not allowed to talk
about rape in school
we were taught that just because
something happens doesn’t mean
you are to talk about it
they build us brand-new shopping malls
so that we’ll forget where we’re really standing
on the bones of the Hispanics
on the bones of the slaves
on the bones of the Native Americans
on the bones of those who fought just to speak
trans-continental railroad to Japanese internment camps
there are things missing from our history books
but we were taught that
it is better to be silent
than to make them uncomfortable
somewhere in America
private school girls
search for hours through boutiques
trying to find the prom dress of their dreams
while kids on the south side spend hours
searching through the lost and found
’cause winter’s coming soon
and that’s the only jacket they have
kids are late to class for working the midnight shift
they give awards for best attendance
but not for keeping your family off the streets
these kids will call your music “ghetto”
they will tell you you don’t talk right
then they’ll get in the backseat
of a car with all their friends
singing about how they’re
“about that life”
and “we can’t stop”
somewhere in America
schools are promoting self-confidence
while they whip out their scales
and shout out your body fat percentage in class
where the heftier girls are hiding away
and the slim/fit beauties can’t help but giggle with pride
the preppy kids go thrift shopping
because they think it sounds real fun
but we go because that’s all we’ve got money for
’cause Momma works for the city
Momma only gets paid once a month
somewhere in America
a girl is getting felt up by a grown man on the subway
she’s still in her school uniform and that’s part of the appeal
it’s hard to run in knee-socks and Mary-Janes
and all her male teachers know it, too
coaches cover up star-players
raping freshmen after the dance
women are killed for rejecting dates
but God forbid I bring my girlfriend to prom
a girl is blackout drunk at the after-party
take a picture before her wounds wake her
how many pixels is your sanity worth?
what’s a 4.0 to a cold jury?
what’d you learn in class today?
don’t walk fast
don’t speak loud
keep your hands to yourself
keep your head down
keep your eyes on your own paper
if you don’t know the answer
fill in ‘c’
always wear ear buds
when you ride the bus alone
if you feel like someone’s following you
pretend you’re on the phone
The teacher never fails
only you do
every state in America
the greatest lessons
are
the
ones
you
don’t
remember
learning
effervescene 