Invisible, Man

Met a man on the street today, black shoes, black glasses, black skin
 Talked a while about this age we're living in
 Told me his story, how he'd nearly made history
 Until he realized the strings were pulled by white hands And the puppet was tied to the strings that made him dance So he ran, he told me He ran and he hid He hid and he planned Underneath their very feet lived an invisible man In his eyes I saw myself with clarity And he spoke with sincerity
 Said, "I am an invisible man," his voice was my voice 
 Our lips formed the same words, made the same noise
 Though I am no man, I'm here just for the show, man
 Is there room in this hiding place for a woman? With no more to give than the big hips and the spanish lips
 Than the thick legs
 That walk the pavement for your entertainment
 I told him, 
 "We'd have voted for your black president
 If more of us could become residents
 But domestic jobs don't cover Visa costs
 So we stay undocumented, stay unrepresented The lightness of my skin keeps me hidden in the streets Then I open my mouth to speak, a disguise is only skin deep
 Yet disguised is how we stay alive No other way when racial profiling is legalized
 No other way when a Hindu in a turban 
 Can't board a plane without causing a disturbance
 No other way when immigration, scared of the latin invasion
 Denies a daughter the chance to see her father
 And he's a citizen but she can't visit him
 Without a stable job, a man, a loan Anything to keep her ties back home
 Can't have another latin girl make America her own We are invisible too, man, you are not alone."