Anaiah James<\/em><\/h4>\n <\/p>\n
Team Dark skin, Team light skin<\/p>\n
#Yellowbone, #RedBone<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve always thought that black is black<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Still a people enslaved<\/p>\n
Fighting against a system built off of the blood, sweat and tears<\/p>\n
Of the Mulattos, the Darkies, and anyone<\/p>\n
Who wasn\u2019t blessed to resemble the shade of a brown paper bag<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I went to school in the middle of the hood<\/p>\n
Heard \u201ctar baby, dark as night, straight off the boat\u201d<\/p>\n
Titles given to me or people like me with dark complexions<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kids my age who, like me, would not pass the brown paper bag test<\/p>\n
Kids who were no less affected by systemic oppression than me<\/p>\n
Kids who ran past the same tainted water fountains we couldn\u2019t drink from<\/p>\n
Kids who sat in the same squeaky desk in an understaffed, undermaintained school<\/p>\n
Listening to underpaid teachers<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A people so used to segregation that they placed it within their own communities<\/p>\n
And passed it down to their children<\/p>\n
As if it was negro spiritual that would get them through the day<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am kissed by the sun<\/p>\n
And blessed to have the power to embrace my dark melanin skin<\/p>\n
And I only wish that those same kids that looked down on my complexion<\/p>\n
Could understand the pain that our people have long felt<\/p>\n
So that we could now freely wear every shade of melanin<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
Anaiah James, class of 2023, is from Paterson, New Jersey.\u00a0 She is a\u00a0Biology Premed and LGBTQ Diversity Advocate and Leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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