It's hot today.
I want me some ice cream. But-
'Whites Only.'
It's 1969.
There ain't no more Jim Crow,
MLK's gone said his dream,
Loving v. Virginia gone passed-
But I still ain't free.
Carl's Ice Cream Shop:
'Whites Only.' But, hell-
Today I'm gonna be brave.
The way it goes down
Is this:
I walk in. The man behind the counter says,
"What the hell you think
you doin', boy?
This ain't no place
For your kind.
You better get your black behind
On out that door
'Fore I sic the cops on you."
But I just stand there.
And he done look at me
his mouth a-crinkled;
Ready to spit,
And the way it goes down
Is this:
I straighten up.
I say,
Just the way my daddy teached me,
"I want me some ice cream.
And I'm gonna get me some ice cream.
And you ain't got no right
To be
Dis-crim-i-na-ting
'Cause I am protected
And Jim Crow gone
Floatin' down the river
In his pretty wooden box
And ain't no thing the police
Or you
Can do."
And I look at him
My mouth a-crinkled;
Ready to spit,
And the way it goes down
Is this:
He spits in a bucket
And makes me my ice cream
And shoves it at me
And I pay him my dime
And walk outside.
It's hot today.
My ice cream's tasting
Mighty fine.
And I'm feeling
Just a little bit more free.