A Cystem
By Jewel Soares
I live in:
A Cystem that only allows me one month out of the twelve to celebrate my dark skin.
A Cystem where my cultural ideas and values are “ghetto and unprofessional,” but as soon as Kim, Kylie or Khloe or some other white person performs the same act it's “authentic or hipster.”
A Cystem where other people comment on my struggles like they could ever know what it is like to be me and dismiss the fact that they can never feel how I've felt.
A Cystem where I tell you my problems but instead of trying to help solve them you give me your unneeded opinions on “look how far we’ve come.”
A Cystem that makes me believe I am a threat to society, and that is why I must be shot down.
A Cystem that will make excuses for its wrongs.
A Cystem I continue to fight against,
A Cystem that will hate me and then tell me I need to change.
A Cystem that tries to make me feel unworthy because of the color of my skin, that shames me for being Black.
A Cystem where Nas said illegal is just another synonym for negro.
A Cystem that forces me to believe and tries to make me see that lighter is better, so instead of bleaching my clothes I bleach my skin just to fit in.
A Cystem where people think we don't have a problem, but we do.
A Cystem that wants me to lay down and give up, but I continue to fight till these chains fall away, continuing the fight because I won't let the freedom that was fought to be given to me be wasted.