No hope
 
For the child
 
Growing up
 
On the wrong side
 
Of the racial divide.
 
Giving up, on the future
 
You can be, whatever you want to be
 
But not me.
 
I scare you with my presence
 
Grew too big, too tall, too black
 
To be trusted.
 
I feel your eyes on me,
 
Judging me an animal,
 
To be hunted.
 
Should I shuck, should I jive?
 
Just for the chance to stay alive?
 
Or just be me and die?
 
Nondescript faces,
 
They notice me not.
 
Except to see,
 
That they look different than me.
 
Folding myself within myself,
 
I try to fit in your box,
 
Like an animal caged,
 
Inside I seethe
 
Considered a danger
 
In the land of the Free
 
I’ll always be a stranger.