Black in America

Black In America

by: Arch Nemesis

To blacks
I wear my blackness like a badge
To some whites

I wear my blackness as a crutch
Not too bad of an interpretation
For what I feel is a crooked honor.
I have no choice but to be black
Whites wont let me forget
And blacks wont let me lay it down
I got a chip on my shoulder
From carrying this burden that I didn’t ask for
But God gave to me anyway
Got me scared to take shows
Where I would be the only shadow
b/c I don’t think that they would get my shit
Would write stuff to appease my pockets
But would wind up denying myself
I’m ready to lay this nonsense down by the riverside
Admit that I had no clue who Mumia was
Cant recall the name of the chick in Cuba
And outside of Malcolm and Martin
Fenced in by Rosa & Coretta
Civil aint ever been my right
But my burden inherited
Taught the definition of injustice before I could spell my name
Neck poppin
Tongue clicking
Like I was the one in chains
I want to know if black is the only definition of me
Am I only as good as a mug shot comparison
Didn’t take the bigots on lawns of Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Or clueless racist in a Maryland mall to make me know that
I don’t understand being black
But somewhere along the line
It was embedded that I need to defend it
Defend it to the death of self
Cause interpretation of my skin
And who I will be because of it will never die
Don’t understand why I have to fill in a box
When I’ve never fit in a box
Outside of the closed minds
Minds who tag me before I open my mouth
I act this way because I feel this way
I dance this way b/c my soul responded
I talk this way b/c my mind relates better
And I wonder if my color had anything to do with it
I tell you there is nothing like being stabbed by the needle of a purple heart
To be stabbed by the thorns of a crown
Or tripped by the tassels of your royal sash
And told no matter what
You must hold your head high
Despite the weight of the world running through your mind
Dragging your neck downward
If only for a second to contemplate
why
I’ve got centuries of pain running through my veins
And on the best of days I feel superior to next of kin
Challenged the imposed superiority of other men
But at the end of the day
After the degrees
The heartache
The 401ks
I too am just a nigga
Draped in the latest fashion trends
Fighting for a seat at the table of a world
A world who keeps screamin’
Seat taken
At decibels that
Apparently
Only niggas can hear
As I keep my neck in steady rotation
Just to cling on to the one thing
The one thing that society keeps telling me I should know
Even though I just want to be human
Not just a color
I didn’t ask to be
Sometimes hate to be
Majority of the time proud to be
But today
I honestly dont understand what it means to be
Black in America