They look at me as though I am dirt
Smelly and rotten
Like I am from the cabbage garbage dump
They call me names
Tag my black tough pony tails
Poke my skin with sticks and stones
Just to see if I can bleed
Just to see if they can wash my skin clean
I bet they would soak me in bleach
To see if that would work on me
Yet my pony tails and skin
Hold the tales of my ancestry
White little eyes
At the corner of the class
Foreign in the environment she is in
Made to feel like a housefly in a bowl of soup
Disgusting and unwanted
She stares brave
She stands bare
Not hiding from the onlookers
Her fellow classmates
Examining her like an extinct animal
As though they are at a zoo
Taking photos
Pointing fingers
Fright in their eyes
But she is a small little girl
She can't bite
She is just black
Mother wasn't for the idea
Daddy proclaimed,
"She is my strong little girl.
She will do fine in her new school.
She will represent our race well.
She is as worthy to study in that university
As any other person
Pink, red, black or white."
Mother let go
Tears she held close
But careful not to let any drop drop
From her big white eyes
As she saw the same eyes stare at her
From the body of her grown little girl
She had to be strong
Not just for her
But for every other child as her own
Black and unwanted
Condemned and ridiculed
Deemed illiterate and backward
Not worthy of education
Just slavery
