It's still real, alive and burning
It never really left
Now it's just sugar coatedwhat you at first thought was sweet
is surprisingly sourIt's hidden and tucked under the rug
You find it when you begin to sweep
The dust of racism bellows up,
filling the room and getting caught in your throat.
the cleaning lady didn't do a good jobIt's there in the corporate world
When they tell you
your kinky hair is unprofessional
Because it doesn't fall straight down your back
And your dressing is inappropriate
because it unapologetically shows your curves
no matter what you put onIt's there in the education system
When all the teachers are white
and all the students are black,
we're not being given the same chanceIt's there in our neighborhoods
all squished together in the same hood
unemployment
poverty
ignorance
and gentrification
oh my bad I mean "urban renewal"
swarming over our heads and whispering in our earsIt's there in the media
where everything farthest away from African is glorified
but they then turn around
and appropriate our culture,
they divide us and make us hate ourselves
but they then turn around
and tan their skin, fill their lips and get butt liftsWake up and realize
NOTHING HAS CHANGED
YOU ARE READING
Chronicles of a Nigerian American
PoesiaA lil poetry for your soul, to empower, uplift and inform. It entails what it's like to be a black girl in America. The poems are not in any particular order, skip around as your heart may desire. ****Picture in cover is not my art