“They won’t be happy ‘til I’m banned/ The most dangerous weapon — an educated black man.”

Say what you want about the late Tupac Shakur, but this quote from his first album sums up the new film, “Tupac: Resurrection.” Tupac represents something altogether threatening to middle class, white society — something as threatening as the Red Army during the Cold War.

Tupac represents change and acceptance. For years, poor people like Tupac were contained in select urban areas throughout the United States. Tupac was one of many hip-hop artists to introduce their struggles into mainstream, white culture, making poverty more important to white suburbia.

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I don’t want to say the majority of white America doesn’t care about the strife of people like Tupac, and I don’t think he believed that either. It’s just that so many Americans are uninformed about the tragedy of poverty in our country, let alone the rest of the world. The fact that so many people are unaware of what’s happening in some of our cities drove Tupac to step up and try to change things.

But most people wouldn’t take. If the troubles of “poverty” were contained, most of suburban America had nothing to worry about. However, when white, suburban children were exposed to it through mainstream hip-hop music, it suddenly became a problem.

This led many people, even the vice president of the United States, to label Tupac as the “other” that was going to come into your house and eat your children. Well, maybe not that bad, but he did say some pretty ridiculous things.

“There’s no reason for a record like this to be released,” said Dan Quayle, about a record that attacked corrupt police officers. “It has no place in our society.”

So, was it really the record that Dan Quayle thought had no place in our society, or was it Tupac? This film doesn’t argue either point, but points out the strife Tupac encountered while trying to bring urban issues to light.

Director Lauren Lazin and editor Richard Calderon begin the documentary with an optimistic Tupac. Their Tupac set out not to force change but to help recognize what was happening. He genuinely thought that if enough people knew what kind of lives the poor were living, they would want to help. This man believed in humanity. He was a man the mainstream media never showed us.

What became so frustrating, especially to people who really wanted Tupac to succeed, was his fall to hip-hop’s near self-destruction. With rappers divided between East and West, people like Dan Quayle didn’t need to worry about destroying this culture. It was destroying itself.

“Tupac: Resurrection” shows a side of Tupac that recognized this. This was a Tupac who knew he made mistakes, a Tupac who knew he blew the East-West feud out of control.

When Lazin finally shows this conflict, mainly with the video for the Notorious B.I.G. diss record “Hit ‘Em Up,” we feel let down because Tupac had fallen right into the traps society set for him.

If nothing else, the film shows us the footage that hit the cutting room floor — footage that told a different story. From seeing the rapper in the media, some would think he’s no more than a bandanna-sporting clown. “Tupac: Resurrection” actually leads us to believe Tupac was a sensible human being.

This film is unique, as it runs in the wake of past documentaries like “Atomic Cafe” and “The Last Cigarette.” Lazin takes audio from various Tupac interviews and rearranges them, so it seems Tupac is narrating his life story from beyond the grave. There are no talking heads telling us, “Tupac was this” or “Tupac was that.” It is just Tupac telling us how it was to be Tupac. A novel concept has been turned into a real achievement.

If you are that guy or girl who crosses the street at night when a black individual is walking toward you (you know who you are), see this film. The next time you’re in that situation, you might just want to say “hello” instead.