We’re Still Hurting 

Your race does not define whether you will be successful in life but shows how hard you’ll have to work to achieve that goal. America is the land of the free and yet there are no signs of actual equality. Growing up black there’s a constant weight put on your shoulders of having to be a good representation of your community. You can’t yell because it’s ghetto, you say “hello” instead of “yo” because you're afraid the white man might not accept you. Being two different people around each race isn’t fair, when I go to my job, I straighten my hair because it’s a sense of power to the white man which I cannot scare. August 28, 1963 a speech was given that gave hope to me and my community. Martin Luther King Jr, I bet you’ve heard the name, said he had a dream that one day his four little children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Heavy words, right? Though they might not mean much to you if your skin color is white. Why is it we take a separate class to learn about black history, are we not good enough for the state curriculum, or is the white man not ready to accept they were responsible for anything past slavery. The separation of our people into lightskin, brownskin, and darkskin went from classification to colourism at the start of colonialism and it’s our job to open their eyes and share some wisdom. Skin lighting procedures are referred to as “treatments”, yet the only disease present is ignorance. Melanin is beautiful no matter the shade, stop with the “friendly suggestions” only meant to degrade. Black communities fight on which is the superior when really to the white man all of us are inferior. No matter how dark or how light we all have the same melanin and for that we must not fight. The split between are people is another thing that holds us down, so stop with the relaxers and wear your natural crown, we all in this together so there’s no more bowing down. Our ancestors did that for long enough now we standing up, what the white man has to say about it...well I don’t give a flying f*** The answer to this problem is not a war between the races or whites bowing down to blacks on their knees with praises, it’s to admit that racism does exist and to work toward putting all colors into equal places.