I can’t do it
Celebrating mediocrity
Holding onto this vain belief
I am expected to celebrate freedom
I am expected to ignore to cost
I dare not say how many lives it has cost
If I start to imagine this differently
It feels like, really deep in me
We are still paying a cost
Because I must celebrate
Each and every time
Someone with skin color like mine
Is ALLOWED to do something for the first time
I can’t do it
I see the Queens accomplishments
But historically we know
It doesn’t mean the door is really open
It doesn’t mean they let her all the way in
It means they opened it just enough
Just enough for her to squeak in
As soon as she was in
That door was shut
Lights turned onto the highest lumens
To pick apart every single fault
As she checked and double checked
Preventing any failure to be unchecked
I can’t do it
I know I am expected to
Be proud of that common phrase
From over a century ago
The first person to do X with this skin tone
The thing that is hard for me
That skin tone never stopped anyone’s ability
In reality they could always do what they did
The only thing lacking was opportunity
This weight that is really upon me
Is indirectly we are celebrating one simple fact
Celebrating a decision that someone somewhere
Decided to give this skin tone a chance
I can’t do it
I want to celebrate progress
I want to see life for what it is meant to be
The most honorable gentleman said
We should be judged by the content of our character
He was eluding to the sheer possibility
That the skin we wear doesn’t define anything
You could have a dark hue and win
You could have a light hue and always sun
The celebratory part is when no ones hue matters
And it doesn’t stop there
It’s when our thoughts are the only equity
How do we celebrate that victory?