Godsdaughta - I Don't Blame You Lyrics

I don't like you already
In fact, I hate you
With your shiny badge and your polished chains
Where you're taking my daddy, my brother, my uncle

I guess when I grow up, you're gonna take me away too
I'm learning every time I see you to either run or hide
Because every time I see you, you're disturbing my peace
Tearing apart my family, robbing us from my daddy

My brother, my uncle
Question, whose community are you really protecting
Instead of sweet dreams, I'm bombarded by nightmares
Of you and your crew

Storming against my home like a hurricane
Breaking through the front door with the force of wild beast
Rushing in like floodwaters after Katrina
In the lower ninth ward of New Orleans

Invading my home, destroying everything
I know it's not right to sell those little white rocks
But I don't blame him
He's a committed husband and a father of two

A convicted felon already been through strike two
Unable to shake his past rap sheet
It's on every application for the asking
And he's more than able to lift boxes for UPS

But nobody wants to hire a criminal
And even if McDonald's was hiring
Ronald can't afford to pay the bills for a family of four
Not locked up anymore, but he's still imprisoned

Searching for freedom, a helping hand
A place with second chances
I remember going to church together
But only as a favor, you see

I had wheels compared to his feet
Which were determined to get to the house of the Lord
Every Sunday of the week to bless those unholy rocks that filled the bottoms of his pockets

With hands up raised in praise
You could hear him praying for forgiveness
Hoping for one day to offer true repentance
Knowing it ain't right to sell those little white rocks

In preschool, baby girl learned to name
The colors of the rainbow
In time she learned what skin tones were beneficial
And which could feel shameful

Her complexion's champagne, her father's milk chocolate
A mixed breed, like a 50 proof mixed drink, hard as liquor
She should have been raised sitting on daddy's lap
Wearing an Oakland A's ball cap

Catching fly balls and autographs
Instead, she's exchanging the laps of her lovers
Like Christmas gifts, wanting to be somebody's princess
Not knowing what royalty feels like

Her daddy, she just wants her daddy to come home
But she is left alone and forced to mourn the loss of her exiled father
His absence is loud and mommy's like a single woman now

You can hear her crying in the nights missing his warm kisses, replaced by cold glass windows
Just listen, listen to her, she misses him
She's missing him on the phone saying daddy

I don't blame you