It's Not Okay
It’s not okay
You know, it’s just not
It’s not okay that I can’t just be me
You say that me is all I can be
But, then, tell me why I can’t be me when I’m with thee.
It’s not okay that I can’t be Black
You may think that I’m being paranoid
But I see your stares
I hear your thoughts in my head as loud as day
I hear you try to claim me and take me away from my people that they call them
I can't dress like them
I can't act like them
I can't be like them
But it’s not because of my own volition
It’s not because I want to conform to your twisted sense of decency
It’s because I have to
It’s because I don’t want to be put in your box
A box of the broken, oppressed, and depressed
Shot down in the street, left to bleed without arrest
Beaten down and trodden upon
And not a century ago, we were hanged and drawn upon
But they’re my people
How can I not be there for my people?
You think that they aren’t my people
But they are my people, every day, in every way
They are my community, my racial family
But according to you
That’s not okay
But according to me
It is okay
It’s not okay that I can’t be Bisexual
Like I have to be Gay or Hetero
But, even then, according to you
Hetero is the way to go
Why can’t I be both and more?
I will stand in front of every homophobe and say it loud and clear
I like guys and girls, and everyone in between, and there’s nothing you can do about it
But your small brain can’t comprehend that, now can it?
Someone who likes more than one gender?
Someone who’s attracted to even the same sex?
The hate suffocates me
Those who tell me that I can’t be me
That I can’t love me
That I can’t love others
For far too long we’ve been kept in the shadows
Denied God's blessings by those who would slay us
But we, the queer, we are strong, we are prideful, and we are brave
We are perfect in His image
Okay
In every way
It’s not okay that our youth are forced to struggle
With a school system that only cares about a 3 or 4 digit number or a 1 letter symbol
With the presence of drugs that tear apart the families they need and love
With a society that seems to just not care about them.
And that’s not okay
It’s not okay that we can’t be ourselves
It’s not okay that we’re forced to wear these masks made of stone
Wearing down our beautiful faces and covering up our gorgeous bodies
These masks, that keep us from loving ourselves
These fake personas, telling us how to look
How to walk
How to talk
How to feel
How to act
How to live
That is not okay!
But, unless we make the change today
It will be our destiny in future days
And that’s not okay
It’s Not Okay.
~L.L. Livingston