Hey Black People, Have You Looked in the Mirror? (Identity Short Poem)

If our hair is black and doesn’t match our brown skin tone.

How can you call yourself black if our skin tone doesn’t check the name?

Black People say they recognize the word “black” as a noun and adjective.

Let’s talk about it.

Black people love defending a color identity that was given to them by imperialism.

The truth matters is you are not black. You are of African descent.

The truth matters is they’re not white. They are of English & European descent.

Let’s Dive In

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“Hey Black People, Have You Looked in the Mirror”

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Hey Black People, have you looked in the mirror?

Did you make eye contact with your dark eyes?

Did you look at your facial hair? Eyebrows? Eyelashes?

Damn, you look good, you know it!

You see your hair and facial hair every day in the mirror.

The color of your hair couldn’t be any clearer.

Do you know what color it is?

It’s black! Isn’t it!?

Unless you’ve colored or dyed it!

Hey Black People, have you looked in the mirror?

You call yourself black when your skin tone doesn’t match your natural hair color.

You’ve been masking your African identity by saying your black.

It’s time you understand our skin color is not our race identifier.

The imperialists took away our African identity.

Forgetting your African identity fuels the fire of amnesia

Hey Black People, have you looked in the mirror?

If your skin tone doesn’t match the name, it’s not a match

Unlearn color identity and relearn African national identities

Unlearn black and relearn African

Show yourself that you haven’t forgotten

You’ve always been an African living in America

In the words of Mufasa, “(insert your name here), remember who you are?”

By: Esperance Ndombe

AfriEspiritu / AfriEsprit / AfriSpirit / AfriEspirito

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