I didn't know they were black kids.

I saw each boy as a potential friend,

Colored in a different paint. . .

By God-

Just like me.

My dad stood by my side,

Signing papers so I could join the basketball club.

I pinched the fabric of his tan pants;

My shoulder stayed glued to his knee.

A nervous child,

A pair of glasses,

And a love for feeling free.

Basketball gave that feeling to me;

And it gave the same feeling to my new teammates.

So, when the world said "black kids, black kids."

I said "my friends, my friends"

-my heartbeat said it's true-

'Cause basketball and friendship

are all I know and all I knew.

I didn't know my friends wore a separate label.

I thought we were all on the same team:

Six kids wearing the same color;

Six kids with the same dream:

To raise our first-place trophies,

With a gold plate labeled: We Belong:

I, to this hardwood court;

My friends to a world that sees them wrong.

So when the world asked, "you play with them?"

I said "yeah, right where I belong,

Doing what I love-

With a gift from God above:

To smile and to love

Hearts I am unworthy of."

I didn't know my friends were trouble.

I thought we were all kids doing what kids are supposed to do:

Play free and have fun.

We did the same things,

Played the same games,

Went to the same places:

Like the local pool,

Where we'd leave a chocolate bar floating-

Bobbing up-and-down with the rhythm of the water.

We'd stand nearby, peaking around the cement wall

While waiting for the sound of the first scream to pierce the sky

And rattle our funny bones.

Or there was the supermarket,

Where we'd play one-on-one in the aisle

(if you got crossed up you owed ten push-ups),

'Till the dribble-dribble-dribble irritated the wrong ear

And we'd be asked to leave.

So if my friends are trouble-then so am I...

But it didn't feel that way;

It felt more like I was dry white paint

On a dry white wall...barely noticed.

My friends got all the attention

For all the wrong reasons.

Yet on the basketball court, it was different-

My friends were stars shining for the world to admire;

But, maybe stars are only admired when appreciation is required;

'Cause while my friends were stars on the court,

They were targets off it....

So when the world cheered "Go, team! Go, team!"

I said, "You people have no idea what it means to be a team."