Racism does not exist,

says the well-off white man living on the hill

Racism does not exist,

Says the woman who had never been asked to drop her bag in the store

Says the man who had never had trouble getting a job

Says the man who had never been stopped by police

Says the man who had never been murdered by the police

 

I know what you're thinking-

another kid getting rowdy over race

Look at her face

Well you would be too if your friend was tased by police

 

And it doesn't matter whether or not he was a

"good kid on the football team" or

someone lost in negative extremes

He's just a kid

Minding his own business

But then soon a victim of "being suspicious"

The whole scene was vicious and

left me with a sickness

 

Left me feeling ill

and these cops were left with the thrill

They're doing their same damn drill

waiting to pounce on their next kill

And the police reports were long

because I know that

they know that

we know they did something wrong

 

And it's not about whites fixing blacks or

blacks fixing whites

its shining a light on the dark tunnel of ignorance

our people are so lost in

Gentrification will not solve our cause

Portland itself has the worst faux-pas

Number one in the nation

for pushing out communities

White businessmen come in thinking they're building immunity

All while cultures struggle to thrive

Black, latino, asian, native

The whole beehive

 

And our women have got it the worst

The queens of all cultures

just seem to be cursed

Why are we still talking about rape?

in the way that the rapist is praised

Why are we saying the victim is to blame?

 

To be asking for it or

not to be asking for it

She must have been

Her shoulders were showing and

her legs were all skin

So what if consent was not given?

No one will believe her,

she belongs in the kitchen

 

and for God's sake stop hitting on us in the street

Don't tell me to smile

It's not as flattering as you think

I don't have live up to these expectations you hold

These whistles and "compliments"

are really getting old

Bold choices made by these grown men,

yet if women were to try them we'd be far from commended

 

But men don't have it off the hook completely

Don't show too much emotion

Don't be less than man

Don't talk like a woman

Don't throw like a woman

Don't love like a woman

God forbid you resemble anything

woman

 

But the strongest thing you could be is woman

Fight like a woman

Create life like a woman

Or to not create life like a woman

because after all

it is her choice

 

And just because you have a vagina,

doesn't make you a chick

And having a-

doesn't make you a guy

Lies told to us early on

to make us believe what's right and what's wrong

 

Don't be with the one you love if you have the same junk

Don't be on the outside looking in

it's cold out there

The world is a dark and scary place

 

We blame society for suicide

But are we not society

Standing by on the sidelines?

Genocide is a crime against humanity

and pushing people off the edge with words is too

 

The USA is considered a developed country,

built on guns and germs and steel

Built on the graves of lost cultures and

the brittle yet burley bones of our ancestors

But we love it here

We raise that flag and

put our right hand over our heart

"One nation under God" we say in unison

While the descendants of our architectures lie in prison

 

But we don't mind

We keep our heads high

While you may think we all coexist

Just remember none of these things exist