This is a joint poem between a girl I knew and myself from high school. She was amazing. Shout out to her. wherever you are, I hope all is well and you've continued to love your royalty.
Peace and Love
~Trina
---
You always text back too late
Stop being so hostile
You're too cocky
you all ready to fight
I bet you got like 5 bodies
You prolly got some nappy hair
You're just another light bright
You're pretty for a dark skin girl
You acting light/dark skin
Why is it that today we dip into cultures of
oppression that we were once victims of?
Inflicting pain on each other for personal gain
Forgetting that we are pots and kettles on the same stovetop
All calling each other black
I'm being over dramatic right?
Wrong.
Since when was it okay to depreciate my skin like I don't have to live in it?
Like everything that helps me survive is not protected by this skin
This skin has been with me since the day I was born
My skin is my identity.
My skin tells a story.
The same story that my ancestors could not even dare to speak of
And yet you cut me down because of it?
As if my skin comes with a rule book
Like my life and my actions come from my skin
Like I asked to be this dark
You make me forget what my skin tone really symbolizes for a group of people who have spent so many years trying to escape racism
They call us all black
Associate us with destruction
They want us to be at war with each other
Light skin was just house n***a
Dark skin was just field n***a
We were all just n***as
They didn't get shy to shoot us down like we were fair game
Now they get us to shoot each other down like when Stacey Dash tried to shoot down BET or when Raven Symone said that African was not a part of her identity
So she can eliminate her darkness like chemotherapy eliminate cells
Like how they get us to kill each other
So we're either dead or in cells
I do not fight, I bring people together
I am not a whore
I am not pretty for a dark skin girl,
I am just pretty
I am not cocky, I am shy
I'm a little mean, but some dark skin girls are nice
I already have problems of my own. I do not have time or space for you to add another problem to my list.
I am not concerned with what you think of my shade,
this shade is what I call royalty.
YOU ARE READING
BlackBerries
PoetryBeautiful black child, how are you? Have you noticed the distinction Between the world and your little Melanie body? Don't worry love, the other children Will break you in, Let you into the little secret That will forever brand you As unequal...
