"Here in America, every single state has standards for every subject, a collection of lessons that the teacherâs required to teach by the end of the term.
But the greatest lessons you will ever teach us will not come from your syllabus.
The greatest lessons you will ever teach us, you will not even remember.
You never told us what we werenât allowed to say; we just learned how to hold our tongues.Now somewhere in America, there is a child holding a copy of Catcher in the Rye, and there is a child holding a gun. But only one of these things has been banned by their state government, and its not the one that can rip through flesh.
Itâs the one that says âfuck youâ on more pages than one. Because we must control what the people say, how they think, and if they want to become the overseer of their own selves, then weâll show them a real one.
And somewhere in America, there is a child sitting at his motherâs computer, reading the homepage of the KKKâs website. That is open to the public. But that child will have never read To Kill a Mockingbird because its school has banned it for its use of the n-word.
Maya Angelou is prohibited because weâre not allowed to talk about rape in school. We were taught that just because something happens, doesnât mean you are to talk about it.Â
They build us brand new shopping malls so that weâll forget where weâre really standing
on the bones of the Hispanics,Â
on the bones of the slaves,Â
on the bones of the Native Americans,Â
on the bones of those who fought just to speak.
Trans-Continental Railroad to Japanese internment camps, there are things missing from our history books. But we were taught that it is better to be silent than to make them uncomfortable.Â
Somewhere in America, a private school girl search for hours through boutiques trying to find the prom dress of their dreams. While kids on the south side spend hours searching through lost and found, cause winterâs coming soon and thatâs the only jacket they have.
Kids are late to class for working the midnight shift, they give awards for best attendance, but not for keeping your family off the streets.
Kids will call your music is ghetto, they will tell you you donât talk right, then theyâll get in the back of a car with all their friends, singing bout how theyâre bout that life and we canât stop.
Somewhere in America, schools are promoting self-confidence, while they whip out their scales and shout out your body fat percentage in class. While heftier girls are hiding away, and the slim-fit beauties canât help but giggle with pride.
The preppy kids go thrift shopping because they think it sounds real fun, but we go because thatâs all we got money for cause mama work for the city, mama only gets paid once a month.
Somewhere in America, a girl is getting felt up by a grown man on the subway. Sheâs still in her school uniform, and thatâs part of the appeal. Itâs hard to run in knee socks and mary janes and all her male teachers know it too.
Coaches cover up star players raping freshmen after the dance. Women are killed for rejecting dates. But God forbid I bring my girlfriend to prom. A girl is black out drunk at the after party. Take a picture before her wounds wake her. How many pixels is your sanity worth? Whatsâs a 4.0 to a cold jury?Â
Whatâd you learn in class today? Donât walk fast, donât speak loud, keep your hands to yourself, keep your head down, keep your eyes on your own paper. If you donât know the answer, fill in C. Always wear earbuds when you ride the bus alone, if you feel like someoneâs following you, pretend youâre on the phone.
The teacher never fails, only you do.
Every state in America, the greatest lessons are the ones you donât remember learning.â
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