"He's just a guy."

Just a guy,

just being a boy,

What's wrong with that?

Let boys be boys.

Don't be so uptight.

 

He just got drunk.

He just did coke.

He just took the car-

     three years before sixteen.

He just kissed her-

     just a roll in the hay.

 

But it's fine, 

no punishment, right?

He's just a guy,

and boys will be boys.

Since when has gender

excused a crime?

 

He just raped her,

    but pull his school pic.

He just shot him,

    but here's his church friend.

He just murdered someone,

    but he only gets six months.

 

Because boys will be boys.

 

"Well what were you wearing?"

Sweats and a hoodie,

but you don't really care.

"How can you expect him to behave

any differently, when you dress like that?"

SWEATS AND A HOODIE.

 

"Well don't walk alone."

Why do I have to carry pepper spray?

Why do I have to take martial arts?

Why do I have to have a protector?

My body is a shrine,

I shouldn't have to shield it like this.

 

"He was drunk, are you sure you weren't?"

Sure, question my sobriety,

instead of his morality!

Question my intelligence,

instead of his self-control!

The length of my skirtdoesn't change my right to

basic human decency!

 

I will not change for you,

does that make me a bitch?

I will not cover up for you,

does that make me a slut?

I will not put out for you,

does that make me frigid?

 

For some reason, I don't care.

 

Why do you glare when he walks drown the street?

Why do you question his every move,

his motivations?

Why do you judge him so harshly,

when he's done nothing to you?

Because he has darker skin.

 

You scoff at his music.

You laugh at his grades.

You judge his clothes.

And you wonder, 

you wonder,

why he stares back.

 

Maybe he's ADD,

and they can't afford meds.

Marybe he sleeps in class,

because he works a six hour shift

to help his mom put food on the table

for him and his siblings.

 

Maybe he has no water.

Maybe he's working his ass off

to get a scholarship

to be the one who gets away!

But you don't know,

and you don't care.

 

His 36 ACT won't make the news,

because you don't like his skin.

 

"Why didn't you use condoms?"

I didn't know I'd need them.

"Why were you having sex?"

I didn't want to.

"Well why didn't you say no?"

Do you really think I didn't?

 

You judge her for the way she speaks.

You judge her for your baby boy.

You judge her for the way she spells her name.

You judge her, and you have

no right to, because

you don't know her.

 

She's proud of her body,

her hair,

her skin,

but she uses a different colloquial term,

so you smirk and look away.

Why?

 

You aren't better than her.

She deserves the world.

She is a queen, and should be treated like one.

One day, someone will, and 

she'll be able to forget the way 

you tried to break her down.

 

She's strong because she loves herself, 

even though you don't know how to be kind.

 

Why does the length of a skirt

determine one's basic rights?

Why does the color of one's skin

determine a prison sentence?

Why are you so opinionated,

and judgmental?

 

A white boy rapes a girl,

and they talk about his swim career.

A black boy flirts with a girl,

and he is cruelly murdered.

Two incidents, decades apart, 

but nothing has changed.

 

When the color of a hood,

the length of a skirt,

the desire for skittles,

the neckline of a dress,

the tip of a toy gun,

determine who lives and who dies,

who breathes and who cries...

 

Society is broken.

Fix it.