Wearing a darker coat of flesh (aka being African)

You Will Never Know, but PLEASE, Try to Understand 

What it’s like to:

beg,
plead,
fight,

and die
over hundreds of years

just to be accepted,
treated with dignity
and respect

and allowed,
the simplistic natural rights,
givin to all who came from the loins of a woman,

but instead
get treated with
perfect hatred and disgust

You will never know
BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND…

How it feels to

long for a life of tranquility

never concerned with
other peoples thoughts, opinions and concepts about you,
due to the pigment of your skin

You will never know
BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND…

How it feels
HAVING to IMAGINE

what it would be like

to gallivant about this world unconcerned about prejudice or discrimination,

I can ONLY IMAGINE

it must be like the birds that soar so beautifully free with their wings out stretched gliding carelessly across the clearest blue sky

You’ll never know
BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND …

As a child,
what it’s like

to be driven miles away from your home for a excellent and sophisticated education
for a chance at having a decent future,
all the while, never getting the experience of
simply….

walking to school.

Year after year my heart wept with jealousy as I drove pass my classmates,

frolicking in the morning sun
or splashing in the puddles
created by winters rain
as they held tight to the hands of their parents on their way to school while I…

sat imprisoned in the backseat of my mothers car

You’ll never know
BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND…

what it feels like

always being the one who stands out
in a crowd
at school
BECAUSE the coat of flesh that adorns ME is DIFFERENT like a dull crayon in a box of neon colors

or because the hair that I wear is as thick as sheep’s wool and doesn’t lie flat or blow in the wind, like the lighter brown skin girl, whose hair extends down past her waist or the pale skin girl whose hair is cut in a perfect bowl shape

You will NEVER KNOW, but please try to understand

how it feels to walk into an establishment with perfect posture and decent attire, exuding self confidence

to be welcomed with a quick glance or a long awkward stare or a half smile or no smile at all,
all the while knowing the thoughts behind those looks are feelings of disdain, disgust and resentment towards you

You’ll never know BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND

how it feels to walk up to a magazine rack to find there’s no since of belonging, alienated from humanity, ignored and silenced,
having nothing to relate to,

it’s lonely

You will NEVER KNOW BUT TRY TO UNDERSTAND..

How it feels to struggle to accept your OWN outer packaging,
always sizing yourself up to an image that’s unattainable,

wanting to feel acceptance

wondering if you’re going to be stereotyped, fore judged,
or underestimate
solely on your outward manifestation.

You will NEVER KNOW BUT try to understand

The torment of never feeling secure enough that your spouse doesn’t want the image of what the world defines as flawless, impeccable beauty

you know,

“Becky with the good hair”

…. the forbidden fruit,

pale skin, blue eyes, and straight, golden hair

oh the anguish

The struggle is real. Our life experiences are real.

It has ALWAYS been and will ALWAYS be
a life of war
not just from those whom we share this sojourn with,
but the victim inside this tormented ghetto’d skin

None of these things,
YOU– WILL– NEVER–EVER KNOW.

BUT PLEASE

TRY TO UNDERSTAND

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