Children’s Rhymes

In the poem, lies symbolize the history of the United States. They allude to the hypocrisy of past American leaders who employed the rhetoric of freedom and equality for everyone while governing a nation that enslaved and oppressed millions of Black people. These lies are “written down” (Line 11) because they are apparent in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other significant historical texts. For example, in the ratified Constitution of 1788, article one, section two says enslaved Black people are “three fifths of all other Persons.” Yet the Constitution doesn’t use the term "slaves," which indicates the authors were lying to themselves about the extent of the inequality in a nation supposedly centered on equality.

At the same time, the lies represent a purpose. The lies are “for white folks” (Line 12), so they’re serving someone; they don’t exist in a vacuum as they’re “written down” (Line 11) with a specific audience in mind. In Stanza 3, the lies symbolize comfort. The lies set the minds of “white folks” at ease since they allow the white people to believe they live in a country where every person is free and where justice has no bias. Such lies aren’t for Black people, or, as the speaker says, “us a-tall,” because they don’t bring Black people any comfort as the lies "bug” (Line 6) the speaker.