Patterson Hood - What It Means lyrics

[Verse 1] He was running down the street When they shot him in his tracks About the only thing agreed upon Is 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 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 [Verse 2] 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 [Chorus] What it means? What it means? [Verse 3] 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 k**ed 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 [Chorus] What it means? What it means? [Verse 4] 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 a**' 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 Cuz I don't know what it means [Chorus] What it means? What it means?????????