Children’s Rhymes

Stanza 1 ends with the speaker asserting, “I know I can’t be / President” (Lines 4-5). Here, the President symbolizes limitations. To become President is a great achievement, yet the speaker doesn’t live in a society that gives him the feasible chance of becoming President, so the President represents the restrictions placed on Black people. There are honors and titles not “sent” (Line 3) to Black people in America. Racism circumscribes the extent of their hopes and success. The speaker’s belief that they can’t be President sends a message that the speaker isn’t afforded the same chances as everybody else. The President represents a dream denied.

Alternately, the President represents freedom, liberty, and justice. As the leader of America, the President maintains these imputed values—or, using the speaker’s word, “lies” (Line 11). Thus, what the President truly symbolizes is the lies of the United States. The speaker can’t be President because they’re unable to perpetuate the lies “for white folks” (Line 12). As the speaker’s disruption of the Pledge of Allegiance indicates, the speaker cannot accept repeating things they know are untrue.