and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have
your mother
all to yourself
The speaker encapsulates her gripe with the public's perception of Black people's childhoods. Outside commentators focus on the poverty that people who grew up poor experienced while ignoring the fact that such poverty was not necessarily the main determiner of the child's experience. They make the decision to ignore what really mattered to the child, which in the speaker's case was her relationships with the people around her. Giovanni, the speaker, encapsulates these relationships by providing the example of having "your mother / all to yourself."
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father’s pain as he sells his stock
and another dream goes
This is a perfect example of Giovanni's claim that "And though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that / concerns you." What really affected Giovanni in this case was not being unable to secure a loan and move to the new development, but that her father's dream was destroyed as a result. As a child, she cared much more about her family than anything having to do with money. Yet, white biographers do not understand this dynamic, focusing instead on the literal lack of money the family experienced.
Black love is Black wealth
The speaker effectively captures why she was not concerned about money as a child. Her relationships with her family provided her with value as if they were money. In fact, in every sense that mattered to Giovanni, she was rich as a child due to the love she experienced. This is what outside observers, especially, she says, white people, cannot understand. "Though you’re poor" in terms of actual money, her family's love made her feel wealthy. She was, in truth, "quite happy."
childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you’re Black
The speaker says it is difficult for Black people to think about the past. However, this is not because her childhood was hard but because of the disconnect between how she experienced and recalls her past and how the public portrays her past. This is an important distinction because it suggests that "childhood remembrances" need not be a drag if the public could understand that poverty does not necessarily suggest constant pain and struggle for children growing up without money.
