If you read the book The Bluest Eye and listen to this song, it's clear that all three writers (Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Toni Morrison) are bemoaning the fact that black people are so negatively framed by white society that they internalize the framing. Perception is reality, and we allow "the bluest eye" to be the one we all want to look through. So they build the prisons for us and we obligingly commit the crimes. It's not really true that a black person can't be strong, or good, or compassionate, or (in the case of the "ugly little girl" in the book) beautiful. Of course as individuals we can be and already are all of those things. Physically we may be free, but our minds, souls, and talents are licensed.
If you read the book The Bluest Eye and listen to this song, it's clear that all three writers (Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Toni Morrison) are bemoaning the fact that black people are so negatively framed by white society that they internalize the framing. Perception is reality, and we allow "the bluest eye" to be the one we all want to look through. So they build the prisons for us and we obligingly commit the crimes. It's not really true that a black person can't be strong, or good, or compassionate, or (in the case of the "ugly little girl" in the book) beautiful. Of course as individuals we can be and already are all of those things. Physically we may be free, but our minds, souls, and talents are licensed.