Overcoming Troubled Waters

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Ignorant, Ill-mannered, Loud, Obnoxious, Ghetto, Uneducated,

But a short list of what you society have dictated

I be.

But society don't you see

I am better than you will ever know

If you'll just let me grow 

Don't judge me based on the pigmentation of my skin

Let me rise and fly and begin

The journey toward my vision

Allow me to break free from the chains of oppression

Break free from the chains of racism and stereotypes

Allow me to strive for the life I was promised in the Bill of Rights

I'm struggling to reach the skies

Because you keep trying to hold me down with your lies

Under the oppression of your racial profiling

I feel like I'm dying

You won't stop trying to destroy me

Because you resent my ethnicity

Has it never occurred to you

I deserve better than you say I do

All you see is the color of my skin

Not the person within

I kicked and punched and screamed

And fought for what I dreamed

I stood my ground

And refused to be bound

My mind was set

I would not fret

I could do anything

Be something

Then your thoughts became my thoughts

I was finally caught

Entangled in your embrace of hate

My body told me to fight, but my mind said it was too late

I suddenly became nothing, worthless, a failure, dreamless

I was lifeless, sightless and hopeless

My dream was just that a dream and nothing to believe in

Just another fight I could not win

I was no longer me

But what you said I should be

My life was a walking nightmare

Being lived based on fear

Everything shadowed by hate

Was what determined my fate

I was living the life of a stereotype

But still refused to fight

Life was but a trace

Leaving a bitter aftertaste

Then I heard someone say

There's a different way

And I came to understand

The issue at hand

You were trying to kill me with your lies

Because you didn't want to see me rise

But no matter what you say or do

I will not succumb to you

Because you only see my race

When you look in my face

But I see the spirit of everyone

That has fought and won

I was once in a defeated state

Because I listened to your statements of hate

So now society you may try to kill me with your bitter twisted lies

But still like dust I'll rise

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

Entering a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I am making my own destiny

Not based on my ethnicity

I am no longer the same

My spirit will not be tamed

Because I am not dreamless or worthless

I am not sightless or hopeless

I am not ignorant or ill-mannered

I am not standard

I am educated and sophisticated

No longer what you have dictated

Because your hate isn't even towards me

It's just the reaction you have towards my ethnicity

*Currently at this time there is no title for this poem because I am still trying to find out who I am in society. Once this transition has been completed and the idea of oppression based on racism and stereotypes is conquered a title will be added to make this poem complete. Thank-you for your patience and consideration.