Identity

My identity on the outside?
Is obvious.
And happy I have been,
Not to explain...
The mixture of my heritage.
On both sides of my ethnic appearance.

Different on the inside,
I know and feel...
All of my ancestors,
Did not decide to arrive here from Africa.
Nor felt excited,
To be stripped and shipped.
Then packed into boats.
Equipped with chains and whips.
Used by poachers.
Paid to enslave them,
As if they were animals deserving it!

Although, today, I must admit,
My inherited dignity...
Had to have had me aware,
Consciously.
None of ancestors...
Tolerated being treated,
With such ignorant indecency.

I was not directly taught,
To be considerate, respectful.
Or to be concerned of others.
If not for my parents,
Who were both rebellious.
And mavericks themselves.
I learned from their example to be myself.
Since there had been no one else,
Showing me that an accepting B.S.
Was not a game they played,
To imitate appearances made.

And...
Well,
I am no different.
Regardless of my identity or color of skin.
Proud to be the who and me I am.
With no attempt to understand.
Who it was or chose to forget,
Their participation in my mixed heritage.
To notice and observe on a daily basis,
The ones performing bigotry and racism?
Are either out of their minds.
Since these days,
If would be difficult to find...
Anyone who claims,
To be pure, perfect and represent...
Their birth resulted and occurred,
From an immaculate event.
Had to have happened,
Without God, our Creator...
Knowing a thing about it!
To have it believe all the diversity we see,
Is a man-made mistake.
In need to be corrected!

My identity is as different,
As a forest to see from a distance.
However...
In that forest no two trees are the same.

'How do you know that?'

I am black.
You are white.
They say they are Spanish.
Others claim to be Asian.
And still...
Not a rainbow I have yet to see,
Has those colors in it.
Although people are convinced to believe,
At the end of on there is a pot of gold.

'Okay.
But...
What has that got to do with your identity?'

I have no idea.
But this I do know...
Whoever did what to do when,
And with who they chose to do it.
I was not invited to debate or argue...
Over that decision.
We are what we are.
To like, dislike or both!

'That makes no sense.'

Exactly.
So why bother trying?