White // Brown

I WISH I WERE WHITE

Because my pale and fair skin,
My button-sized nose,
My ocean blue eyes,
Blush colored, thin lips
Would make people think I was beautiful

Because I don’t have to
Think about if it’ll be
The last time I see my mom
When she goes to work
Or if she’s on a plane
Back to the Motherland

Because I won’t have to feel
My glass heart shatter
As I watch the news,
Hearing that one of my
POC brothers and sisters died
Due to the color of their skin

Because maybe, for once,
People would look at me
Like a human being instead
Of a criminal, a hand-me-down,
A menace to society, a punk,
Or an immigrant

Because I hate walking down
These streets with that knowing
Fear in my heart, of being ridiculed
Or hurt because of my nationality

Because I’m scared to pray to God
At church and let him hear my last
Prayer, my last call to him as a cry
For help, if someone decided to shoot up
The church because we’re Hispanic

Because I can never find a girl
Who looks just like me in the
Movies I watch, the magazines I read,
And the posters in my room

BUT I AM NOT WHITE, I AM BROWN

So I have to see
Mothers crying on TV
Begging for justice for
Their children’s death
As the killer roams
These streets free

So I have to live
In fear of being killed
For being a different
And being on the lookout
For a place to hide
In case he comes
Weapons blazing

So I have to fight
The battle even
Harder to earn the
Same rights as the ones
Who stripped them away
From people like me

So I have to watch
Families being separated,
Children crying out to
Their parents’ arms
And feel their loving embrace
One last time

BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I GET FOR BEING BROWN