What do you see when you look at me

Do you see my pale skin and blue gray eyes and think she’s white

Do you see my father’s slanted Egyptian and Sudanese eyes

Do you see my mother’s brown, blonde, red tinted hair

Do you hear the accent in my tone

Did you notice any of these

I am more than what you see

I am more than some white girl

I am not just black; I am a mulatto

I am multiracial; And I am proud

 

When I was younger I use to stutter

I had trouble pronouncing the hard articulations within the English tongue

Compared to the smooth Spanish, Swahili & Arabic I grew up with

Words like difficult & specific were to hard for me; I would get frustrated & refuse to speak English

Even now my mother’s tongue flows from my mouth before I can stop it

But I don’t understand it; not anymore

 

My Mother & Aba took me to the doctor to help my stutter

They said speak English; Only English….

Instead of taking things slowly

Helping me practice the articulations within the English tongue

They decided that cutting me off from my Heritage would be the best optain

No more Spanish, No more Arabic, No more Swahili, No miha, mi amore, , No ishalam, no ada

Just English…Only English

 

Filling out applications irritates me, having to pick just one race , Only one angers me

And you can’t leave it blank; No, no honey; Leaving it blank means people will decide your race for you

 

Most people tell me just say Black it covers everything; But they don’t understand

In the eyes of many I am too pale to say black

But I’m too dark to say white

And I don’t know what would befall me If I were to say Latino

 

Why do Latinos have their own section

You have black, white, native American, Islander

Then you have “do you consider yourself latino,” as if I have to think about it

I do not have to think about it, I am latino and I am proud of it

Why do I have to pick and choose when it comes to my race, When races are like drinks

You can mix drinks, lemonade and sprite, cherry coke, cherry pepsi come on now

But no, no, no you can’t mix races statistically speaking

I am a proud mulatto

I will not pick one race over the other

I will not pick white or black; Native American or hispanic, Egyptian or Sudanese

For I am all; I am multiracial, I am mixed, I am mulatto & I am proud