I need everybody to stop callin me a white girl
I made the conscious effort to advance myself
Yet you all still want to lump me into the chaos
You call being the product of your environment
I’d rather consider myself the sum of
Hard work
Times the quantity
Discipline
Plus support
Plus education
All over the tragedy that is my environment
So what I got stuck in the hood
That doesn’t mean I have to be a gutter snipe
Spitting out b**** boo bye
And poppin five cent super bubble as loud as I can
My life has taken shape because of the choices I made
We were given access to the same materials in life
Yet it seems that you’ve squandered them
We walked down the same streets
You chose to switch
I chose to find poise walking stick straight from head to heel
Never forgetting that your chin should always be perpendicular to your spine
We shopped in the same stores
You bought ripped jean skirts that damn near showed your secrets
I bought those polos with the fake Ralph Lauren emblem on the pocket
We went to the same salons
You left with streaked 1B/30 weave
As long as possible please
I left with braids
Neat and straight please
We went to the same schools
When given the opportunity to do extra credit
You lost the assignment
I cried over B’s
While you were happy “passing” with D’s
When high school rolled around
I applied to the best schools I could find
While you chose to go to the high
So you could cut class
And go smoke weed in that bathroom on the second floor that everyone knows doesn’t have a smoke detector
I chose to work my way away from this mess
You chose to weasel your way through it
I chose to stack my stepping stones high
While you chose to run in circles
I chose to reach for the best that I could get
And then still want just a little bit more
You chose to wallow in the mud
And because my slate ain’t as dirty as yours
You ridicule me
And claim I’m not black enough to be part of your society
Well guess what
My ethnicity is not determined by my actions
And the fact that you identify
A life of poverty
Inadiquacies
Mediocre education
And habitual failure
As the core qualities of your culture is pathetic
I would laugh at you for laughing at me for caring about my future
But it’s sad that no one taught that you should care about yours
The only thing I ask is that you not associate your habits with those of the African American culture and more justly attribute them to ignorance
Don’t blame your skin for what you didn’t get out of life