The Coup in Concert 4 Mumia Abu-Jamal Saint-Gilles BXL - Strange Arithmetic

History has taught me some strange arithmetic
Using swords, prison bars, and pistol grips
English is the art of bombing towns
While assuring that you really only blessed the ground
Science is that honorable, useful study
Where you contort the molecules and then you make that money
In mathematics, dead children don't get added
But they count the cost of bullets comin out the automatic

[Chorus]
Teacher
My hands up
Please, don't make me a victim
Teachers
Stand up
You need to tell us how to flip this system

[Boots Riley]
Economics is the symphony of hunger and theft
Mortar shells often echo out the cashing of checks
In Geography class, it's borders, mountains and rivers
But they will never show the line between the takers and givers
Algebra is that unique occasion
In which a school can say that there should be a balanced equation
And then Statistics is the tool of the complicit
To say everybody's with it and that you're the only critic

[Chorus]

[Boots Riley]
Social Studies, the goliath to tackle
Which turns into a sermon on simplicity of shackles
Physics is to school you on the science of force
'Cept for how to break the hell out the ghetto, of course
Home Ec can teach you how to make a few sauces
And accept low pay from your Wal*Mart bosses
If your school won't show you how to fight for what's needed
Then they're training you to go through life and get cheated