This Brown Skin I’m In

Somedays I wish I could just take off this brown skin I’m in,

It’s such a heavy burden to bear. Ironically, it’s the first thing people seem to notice about me.

Not my fly new outfit, not my new glam bag’s flair, not my hot designer shoes, or all the time and effort I’ve spent on my hair.

Yes, it’s this brown skin I’m in, that seems to offend, that seems to provoke, just won’t let me blend in.

It gets me followed around the mini-marts, gets me followed around the malls, around the grocery store aisles, and around the school halls.

It gets me followed by Big Blue, sworn to serve and to protect, looking for any reason to put a knee on my neck. Although they call my skin black, they act like it’s a bright beacon

Shining, shining seeking their attention. This brown skin I’m in seems to incite many forms of hatred

Foul names, foul acts, seen and unseen to be sure, sometimes it’s more than any human was meant to endure.

For you see, what’s inside this skin is what makes the distinction. Made up of so many things that have been passed down through our race

Things that Kings and Queens who had been stolen from their lands had to face. Things like cruelty, enslavement, abandonment, hatred, fear, hunger, pain, rape, murder, and all human rights stripped away from them.

And for what reason?

That’s not for me to say, but God opened a door. And He is still opening doors in which we can walk through

So that one day people will see more than just this brown skin I’m in....

They will see my heart.