WEBVTT

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[VIOLIN PLAYING]

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We are standing on Ninth
Street and Fourth Avenue.

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I am looking at hair the color
of a golden fool, and eyes--

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eyes as blue as a perfect day.

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And they asked me, hey,
Teré, why do you always

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wear those long sleeves and ties
on the hottest summer nights?

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The underpass is crying
of speeding cars,

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and a violinist fighting asleep.

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And one homeless
man that's begging,

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I deserve to see tomorrow too.

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And I believe him.

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So I give him change,
knowing that it's

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not the kind of change that
him or I are begging for.

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See, we fight the same fight.

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Because when I'm standing
next to my lover,

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and they ask me what part
of Africa do I call home,

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I want to remind them
of African-Americans

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in our continent.

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I want to remind
them that it's still

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rust at the bottom of
the Atlantic Ocean.

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Flesh-less slaves
with decayed weights

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still hugging their ankles.

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Lifeless bodies still
trying to find ways to dance

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to the currents of the sea.

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And they tell me, Teré, you
are afraid of your own country.

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And it's true.

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I am afraid of the
ocean, because I'm

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afraid of the things
that it has seen.

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Because as I'm
reading this poem,

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my boy is still
trying to make bail

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because he was caught speeding
down Speedway Boulevard.

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As I'm reading
this poem, a child

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was killed while carrying
Skittles and iced tea.

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As I'm reading this
poem, Marissa Alexander

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is still trying to turn
over a two decade sentence

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for shooting a warning
sign at her aggressor.

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And when that fear was based
at the chest of a child,

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and the trigger was pulled,
the man was set free.

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See as I'm reading this poem,
Jordan Davis is dead tonight.

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A biracial boy is
serving a lesser sentence

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after admitting he was the one
that killed the man, because he

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was bored.

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As I'm reading this
poem, a thirty-year-old

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was shot in the face
at a basketball court.

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And then there's my brother.

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There's my brother, who after
playing the marimba for Barack

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Obama, could change
his three piece

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suit for a backwards hat and
chain at the end of the night.

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And all I got to offer, all of
his fear is, just a few poems.

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See, my grandfather told
me that the house-Negro

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turned into a
well-dressed black man

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in a suit that could play
the hell out of a banjo,

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so look good.

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Keep your eyes straight,
and learn how to play.

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This pen has become my strength.

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We are standing on Ninth
Street and Fourth Avenue.

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I am looking at hair the
color of a golden fool,

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and eyes as blue
as a perfect day.

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And they asked me, hey,
Teré, why do you always

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wear those long sleeves and ties
on the hottest summer nights?

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I'm just dressed to impress
the bullet in the shaking hand.

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