GIRLS // Poetry --reupload (2016)

C o l o r i s m

Bleach your skin and sandpaper away pigmentation
In hopes of becoming fair – as if our skin carries sins
And with soap we hope to wash them away
(or that to be born with melanin is the sin itself);
As if beauty was truly defined by the shade of your
Complexion and not at all by your features;
As if you can erase blackness with a whitening app,
As if your Afro lips and large nostrils won't give away
Your heritage, your ethnicity, your identity
Honey you can't runaway from your heritage even if you tried
No matter how much you whitewash yourself, you'll never be White
Albinos are still Black to the naked eye