Pigment

The pigment of my skin tone has never been relevant enough to me to be considered a possible source of contention or derision or dissension, and yet, this has been a major factor in the course of many a life in reference to position and decision.

Pay attention.

Since when is my value and worth dictated by the quantity of melanin present in my skin? Since when am I Cain, marked for fratricidal sin? Where do you get off constructing a box to then put me and my melanin in?

Why should the diction of my prose and elocution of my vernacular come as a shock to you, giving you cause for surprise just because my skin matches my eyes? Your misguided misjudgment and unfounded hatred make me sick. If everyone hated everything that was different from them we would never have made it as cavemen.

America. Land of the oppressed. Home of the demonized.

You beat us and murder us and imprison us and expect us to lie down. To accept all that you dish out without retaliation. All oppressed people rise up eventually, history tells us this.

Are you ready?