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Imagine being a young black man
Trying to make it in America
Where if you dare to be different
Your parents will have to bury you
The place where people from all over
Travel to trying to chase a dream
The place where they say “Lift every voice”
But try their best to silence me
If I can’t throw, sing, play ball or run
My life is seen as a waste of space
“You should strive to be like Jordan”
Why can’t I strive to be like MLK?
“You give these colored folks an inch
And here they go taking a mile”
Behind my back they want me dead
While in my face they all just smile
Imagine being born a future suspect
In a murder case you didn’t commit
“But your honor he matches the profile”
“Tall and black, he definitely fits”
Imagine lying there, cold on the pavement
Mother crying, “They killed my kid”
Many bullets were shot that day
You’re the only one that they hit
Life flashed before your eyes
Mom spends weeks trying to solve the case
Police don’t bother looking into it
“Let them kill off their own race”
“I don’t see how blacks still struggle
When opportunity is the same for us all”
I bet that masters will get Jim further
Than it’ll ever do for Jamal
But hey, welcome to America
Where at least I know I’m free
To be wrongly convicted, shot or killed
That’s the life they want for me
Whether I stand tall and fight back
Or take a knee for my rights in peace
There’s only one way this story ends
Another black man lost to the streets
