Because My Son Is White

Because my son is white,

I don’t need to fear a cop’s knee at his neck

He will live in a world with the law on his side

No prison-for-profit will be made out of him

When he applies for a job, he can safely enclose

A picture of his face and Caucasian nose

He knows without question it won’t jeopardize his chance

His skin speaks louder than the way he can dance

I can sleep softly at night without a sudden call

By a cold voice telling me that a bullet has fractured his skull

Raised in a society that favours his kind

Old women won’t grasp their bags when he walks behind

Young girls won’t cross the streets when seeing him at night

The cashier won’t hold his note up against the light

His white skin is his armour, he doesn’t need weapons

Police brutality is something foreign he can’t fathom

My son will not be incarcerated for smoking a bit of weed

Or end up on death row for a crime he didn’t commit

If my son was black, and if I was, too

We would know a form of rage that few whites do

My son would learn self-defense and constitutional rights

For the uniforms would be at his heels day and night

Waiting for him to stumble then convict him of crime

Exploit him as a criminal to make the shareholder’s dime

For once he is locked up, he can’t participate in elections

Inside the prison walls there’s no thirteenth amendment

My son would study hard but all in vanity, for in reality

A white kid with half his brain capacity grabs the vacancy

He would encounter this injustice again and again

While politicians are on campaign for the American Dream

But that was never for him, he has to try and make a living

Legal or not, the law is either way against him

I would attempt to teach him to be the bigger person

To respond to bigotry and systematic racism

With love that I'd hope would crush the hate

But nothing can change the ways of the US state

Governed by corporations that profits from discrimination

Writing fresh legislation that stinks of segregation

Why should I respect authority? Give me one good reason

All my life you’ve been an example of evil

My ancestors knew it, and we know it today

It didn’t finish when you unlocked the chain

You find intricate methods to keep us down

Still patrolled by the crows that are flying around

You insult us in front of our churches

You allow disgraceful speech

You teach us the very violence you preach us not to commit

You are as much a joke to us as you are tragedy

That’s why you see us laugh while tears drip at our feet

In our dictionary democracy means hypocrisy

And this brutality is just the symptom of a greater disease

My love travels deep, make no mistake

But touch my son and I swear your house will shake.