“Too Black”
Ha! I’m “too” what, you say?
“Too loud,”
“Too obnoxious,”
“Too in the way”?
My hair is “too kinky,”
I “show too much skin,”
But honey,
I’m unashamed of my melanin.
“Oh, if black lives matter,
then why not blue?”
Well, Becky,
you’d be mad too
if police were shooting you
for reaching for the ID that they asked for
or simply walking home from the convenience store.
So, Becky,
don’t ask me why I’m causing an uproar.
Ooh, you see my “angry black woman” coming out!
You’re confused,
You say there’s nothing to be mad about –
Basic. Human. Rights.
You’d think we’d have them by now
but we’re still in this fight,
still in the tunnel slowly approaching the light,
moving away from oppression until it is out of sight.
But, in the meantime,
I think I’ll continue to be “too loud,”
“Too obnoxious,”
“Too in the way.”
I love my angry black woman,
and she’s here to stay.
- Riel Felice
