What It Means

He was running down the street
 When they shot him in his tracks
 About the only thing agreed upon
 'Cause he ain't coming back
 There won't be any trial
 So the air it won't be cleared
 There's just two sides calling names
 Out of anger out of fear
 And if you say it wasn't racial
 When they shot him in his tracks
 Well, I guess that means that you ain't black
 It means that you ain't black
 I mean Barack Obama won
 And you can choose where to eat
 But you don't see too many white kids
 Lying bleeding on the street
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 In some town in Missouri
 But it could be anywhere
 It could be right here on Ruth Street
 In fact, it's happened here
 And it happened where you're sitting
 Wherever that might be
 And it happened last weekend
 And it will happen again next week
 And when they turned him over
 They were surprised there was no gun
 I mean, he must have done something
 Or else why would he have run?
 And they'll spin it for the anchors
 On the television screen
 So we can shrug and let it happen
 Without asking what it means
 What it means
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 What it means
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 Then I guess there was protesting
 And some looting in some stores
 And someone was reminded that
 They ain't called colored folks no more
 I mean we try to be politically
 Correct when we call names
 But what's the point of post-racial
 When old prejudice remains?
 And that guy who killed that kid
 Down in Florida standing ground
 Is free to beat up on his girlfriend
 And wave his brand-new gun around
 While some kid is dead and buried
 And laying in the ground
 With a pocket full of skittles
 What it means
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 What it means
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 Astrophysics at our fingertips
 And we're standing at the summit
 And some man with a joystick
 Lands a rocket on a comet
 We're living in an age
 Where limitations are forgotten
 The outer edges move and dazzle us
 But the core is something rotten
 And we're standing on the precipice
 Of prejudice and fear
 We trust science just as long
 As it tells us what we want to hear
 We want our truths all fair and balanced
 As long as our notions lie within it
 There's no sunlight in our asses
 And our heads are stuck up in it
 And our heroes may be rapists
 Who watch us while we dream
 But don't look to me for answers
 'Cause we don't know what it means
 What it means?
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 What it means?