Melanin : Being Black

Being black is about the skin

The melanin

It’s about the pain

The grind and the never ending line

It’s about the race

The pace and the the never ending prejudice 

“Speak English so eloquently” 

Display some sense of elegancy

Prompt them to say : Oh my! 

You’re human as well

Hair like wool

Music is cool

Bunch of fools

Not good at school

That one’s a thief

Face up in the reef

Got shot by the Chief,

Butchered like beef

That’s a gun!

There stops the fun

Oh, shoot!

Wait, it was just a pun

Hair unprofessional

Food sensational

Manners occasional

So black lives ain’t justified

Our hairstyles ain’t dignified

Our women objectified, 

Fetishized,faults magnified

Township’s our vibe

Violence and strife

Can’t always escape with your life 

Forever paying a bribe

History is altered

Can’t see where you faltered

No one fathered

Our ancestors bartered 

Forgotten when they were carted

People humiliated

Debilitated

Supposedly emancipated

Yet,

Heart painfully throbs for white collar jobs

For roasted lamb chops

A life full of hope and hops

Never running from the cops

African roots bleed

Our ancestors plead

Culture flees

Tradition replaced with ease

Cultural appropriation

Hand in hand with discrimination

Cultural appreciation

Synonymous with indignation

Society is broken

Wound under the plaster still open

Inequality intricately woven

Education is key

I mean, you’re all free

Work hard

Get a gold card

Yet poverty rules

Whilst we work like mules

Our souls like fuels to poverty's duels

With helpless individuals

We’ve cried in the past

We’ve tried to fast

We’ve prayed for deliverance

Help

Even a little reverence

We’ve fallen from grace

To it all being about the race

At an ungodly fast pace

We storm through the trials we face

A road full of prejudice

This is why being black is about the skin

The melanin

The pain

The pride

And the never ending climb