“I don’t see color,” she said.
As she smiled and turned
Was it so easy to
Disregard
Denounce
And deny me?
Was she too blind to see
The history that was written
Into my epidermis?
This color don’t come for free
I’ve been charged
Done paid the price
For my color
Too many shades
Removed from my
African ancestry
And she said, “I Don’t see color”
How could she so
Conveniently ignore
The weight that I bore?
The brunt of
stereotypes
miseducation
misunderstandings
people’s prejudices playing favorites
with me
Did she think she could erase my past
With one sweeping stroke
Of a sly tongue
Trying to avoid the
Consequence of seeing me?
Did she think I would
Shrivel up
Let go
Accept
Her desire to white me out of
History and a collective memory
Reminding folks of what
Browness truly means?
She straight up
Tried to play me
And before my nerve endings
Received the electrical impulses
From my brain I screamed
STOP, right there
Did you think it’d be
That easy to escape from me?
I’m in everything your eyes
Can see. This skin has
A long legacy
Belonging to proud people
My melanin plays griot storyteller
And if you stopped to see
You might just learn
What it’s like to be me
Every layer of my skin
Is embedded in an
Identity, who’s past
Has made her path quite clear
Don’t let your eyes
Fail or fool you into
Believing that I am not me
This color is your destiny
Bleaching creams
Need not apply and I
Don’t care to hide
From the sun’s golden touch
And the nourishment
It provides
You may not see color
But your gonna see me
Take a good look
I’m the largest organ
On the human body
I deserve some respect
Preaching color blindness
As if you could forget
The haunting voices
of my ancestry are speaking
to you through my genetic code
If you listen close
you can hear the cries
of caciques left to die
If you listen close
you can hear the prophecies
of Yoruba healers
calling out
If you listen close
You can hear the
Pounding of power filled
Hands on congas
If you listen close
You can hear the bomba
In my skirt
If you listen close
Your eyes would tell you
What a tragic mistake
It would be
to try
And deny me
