tell me

Race tells me nothing
about a person
that superficial predisposition
that roll of the genetic dice
that gave you curly locks
that pigment in your skin
tells me nothing about the state you're in
this imaginary box
this quick to write you off
easy to categorize
leading to social demise
this way to subdivide
makes me so sick I want to hide
from the value you put on race
tells me so little of your identity
yes I see you're different from me
but much more is what we have in common
yet sadly this imaginary category
comes with a twisted long story
the cause of legal lynching
reason for vast discrimination
I know it's hell people been facin'
and i stand walk live breathe
benefitting from generations of white privilege
and still I assert
race tells you nothing about a person
it might be controversial to say
I had no rehearsal today
schools indoctrinate in the way of hate
so I avoid sweeping generalization lies
which come now as no surprise
and what if we lived in a world where
the way we describe each other is by
our individual definition of God
or higher/deeper power
or the way she reminds you of a flower
what if the way you introduce him is by
the name of his favorite song
or how she stays so strong
and you admire that
or by the similarities of her to a cat
Race tells you nothing about someone
tell me
what makes you
someone?·