Can you help me with common core?
I know 2+2 is 4
But when rent is $625 and the utilities cost another $113
And my momma’s hours got cut to 20 and she only makes $8.15
Per hour
Before taxes
I don’t think this math is
Adding up
Why is there always so much subtraction
Why can’t she ever pay a whole bill?
The 1st and 15th are filled with so many fractions
Teacher, why must your check be divided
To pay for school supplies that the school never supplied
When it comes to our district, how come funding never gets multiplied?
Remember last year when you and Ms. Hyde
Said yall were marching for us and wearing #RedForEd
Is that kinda like what my aunt did when she said
That she was marching for Breonna Taylor when those cops shot her in bed?
Teacher teacher
I think I’m confused
And need a review
Of Economics & Civics
Is it kids in cages or single moms making poverty wages
Anxiously waiting on paltry stimulus checks
That are gridlocked like knees on George Floyd’s neck?
Is this really the land of the free and the home of the brave
Where food deserts are rampant for descendants of slaves
Hungry and homeless children packed tightly in Title 1 buildings
With metal detectors and SROs on each hall
Failing HVAC systems and toilet paper every other stall
Ms. Jones I know I ain’t pass last year’s EOG test
But that don’t mean that I’m stupid and belong in ISS
I appreciate you saying that to Principle Smith
You stood up for me, I ain’t mean to fail that standardized test
I didn’t mean to get you fired, I really tried my best
Teacher teacher
What’s the substance of the American Dream?
Is it universal healthcare?
Is it finally winning the fight for $15?
Will we put an end to gentrification?
And stop deportations?
Can we get rid of college tuition?
And abolish prisons?
Terminate student loans and evictions?
Will there be universal housing?
Will black lives matter?
Will we defund the police?
Can black trans women walk safely down our streets?
Can we end rape culture?
Overturn this rotten two-party system and overthrow capitalism?
If the answers are YES!
Then teacher stand with us
Cuz there’s a war going on outside no class is safe from
Our class must win
