Brown Skin | The Odyssey Online
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Brown Skin

 

In the 3rd grade, the boy at recess said I shouldn’t wear shorts

 

In the 4th grade, the girls at the table said I should always wear long sleeves


 

My skin is dark and so is my hair

And that to them

 

Was a problem


 

It wasn’t beautiful, it was gross and weird

 

It was something I was taught to cover up

 

Taught to be afraid of my own skin

 

Imagine that.


 

In the 6th grade I was called a dot head

 

I’m Muslim, not Hindu

 

In the 7th grade I was told to go back to my country

 

I was born in Brooklyn, New York

 

The United States of America

 

is my country


 

I was judged by my skin color before I even opened my mouth

 

They made up in their minds that I wasn’t “American” by the time they heard my name


 

I was deemed as an outsider the minute I stepped into the room

 

People were full of questions they didn’t know how to ask

 

So instead they hid their curiosity behind insults and big egos


 

In the 10th grade things changed

 

People saw me as “exotic” and “foreign” because of the henna on my hands and the elaborate jewelry I wore on special occasions

 

In the 11th grade I was asked questions about my culture

 

Where I come from, what languages I can speak, what Gods I believe in


 

They thought I was an alien, not from the same soil as them

 

As if we weren’t all made with the same hearts and brains

 

2 eyes, one nose, 10 fingers, blood running through all our veins


 

See the problem not only lies in parents not telling their kids to treat everyone the same

 

It lies in us not telling our kids to be confident

 

In telling them that people aren’t allowed to pick them apart

 

Which leads them to believe they are in a category in which they must stay in


 

A category that can be also seen as racial profiling and discrimination

 

A category in which as a brown skinned individual

 

I am stuck in

 

A category that has yet to be broken


 

But if we teach our kids that confidence is key

 

Then we’ve taught them to be happy in their skin and to love themselves

 

With all that self-love they won’t have time to think they are in a category

 

Or allow people to pick them apart


 

So this is to that girl in the 3rd grade

 

Wear those shorts when your mom picks them out for you

 

Stick your tongue out at that boy and tell him you are still beautiful

 

Don’t let his words defeat you, don’t let them put you in a box

 

Show everyone in your life you are not only what is on the outside

 

And when they come to love you they must love all of you

 

For you are your culture, your values, your paisley henna designs, your sequenced shalwar,

 

You are your dark hair,

 

And you are your brown skin


 

You are made to sparkle

 

You are made to twinkle

 

Now it’s time

 

To let that brown skin shine

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