My mama tells me they don't belong
They're different
Foreign
Disgusting.

My mama tells me I can't share
Anything.
I'll get sick.
They are beneath us.

They drink different water
They ride in different busses
They use different bathrooms.

Papa leaves for the forest with rope.
Mama tells me he's tying up disease
Hanging up the lower

But don't worry,
She tells me
It's a metaphor.

Enter Desegregation.

I had school with one today
One of them.
She has a name.
It's Jessica.

Her mama tells us we're cruel
Evil.
Discriminating.

But I like Jessica
The only thing that's really different
Is our skin.

She's not sick.
She's not disgusting.
Mama was wrong.