Walk with me…

Walk with me.

The proudness of my race, my culture,

Is diminished the moment I step outside of my house.

Protecting my identity in a multicultural society.

When will my feelings become a priority?

Do you really understand what it means to be labelled an ethnic minority?

People looking at the colour and thinking they know the person and its entirety.

My parents prepared me for the world,

Before I was even prepared for the world.

Working twice as hard as my equal.

Just so that we can be equal.

Subconsciously dimming my light,

So that my ‘blackness’ is not seen as a threat.

If I share my truth…

I am angry, I am aggressive, I am dangerous.

The colour of my skin is intimidating.

The education of my culture is condescending.

Am being oppressed?

Or am I oppressing myself?

Is it transgenerational trauma?

Or is it the Durkheim theory?

I suppose it depends on the adversities I face that day.

Walk with me…

Where assumptions are made based on the colour of my skin.

I am seen yet unseen.

I am supported yet isolated.

Inferior,

Lesser than.

The hardship of fitting my identity into a society that rejects it.

My home,

My safe space,

Is the only place I feel elevated.

The only place I feel protected.

Walk with me- By Marcelline Menyié