She has come to the realization that she has failed her DNA,

but who is she to blame for subconsciously signing the treaty 

claiming one side of her victor over the other?

 

Was it the books,

Whose protagonists were kin to the white pages?

Oh, what filthy tactics they used!

Bleaching a child’s mind with the words she coveted

Until any color she could have imagined was smothered by chalky residue.

 

How is she to tell her father

That the word black is synonymous to suspicion 

And the supremacy he urged her to overpower

Succeeded in subjugating her into another naive follower?

 

If only she had endured the segregation, aversion, and inferiority

To the degree that he has.

Then perhaps her mind would stop dismissing the scars 

Scourged by the comments of bigots and friends alike.

 

Maybe this war waging within her was simply

Another rebellion, readied to be squashed once more 

By her dominant chromosomes.

 

If this is the case, she muses,

Then it is no surprise her darkened pigment was subdued--

Part of her was born a slave,

With shackles not even death could break.