Black
Black is a beautiful color
Black is a gorgeous shade
But being Black while in America makes it a shade you’d want
to trade to avoid being pepper sprayed while the police
are being swayed.

Don’t act surprised when it’s brought to your attention
and don’t expect black people to not bring aggression against
the transgressions that threatens our expressions.

Being black is fantastic but the consequences that come with it
are drastic. We’re being used as political tactics to make us seem like a violent demographic.

We get bullied for the same thing white people get praise for,
black working mothers don’t make as much as the white
‘twerking’ Instagram girls but, hey, I mean I don’t think anyone
is keeping score.

Don’t even begin to be offended by what’s being said while there are black people being shot and killed dead. We rest our heads
on our beds, mentally spread from the dread of being shred
from life earlier than expected.

Black women are either hated or fetishized, despised or prized, sensationalized or priced. We start trends while we transcend

the Eurocentric ideals of beauty that have kept us from blooming.

We’re still recovering from the mental damage it has done to us.

We’re Black.
We’re Black.
We’re Black.