Questions of Youth

Why do I have to remain silent
Yet, I am the one who suffers
Why do I have to continue to struggle
Yet, it’s okay for you to strive
Why do I have to endure the unrealistic Eurocentric beauty standards
That degrade my every feature
Yet, I can’t say or do things to uplift
my brothers and my sisters
Why am I often ostracized
Yet, treated as if I’m the problem
The real problem here
Is that I still haven’t received my reparations “dear”.
Every day I’m targeted
Yet, when I use my voice, I’m ignored or beaten down
Why do you love my culture
Yet, you love nothing about me
Why do I have to teach my child to be careful with where they go and how they speak
I will teach them to fear this world, even as a baby
I may be young
I may not understand some things
But I do know that people don’t care
They don’t care about things that don’t affect them
Even if means the suffering of others that they talk to and interact with everyday
I am this nation’s youth, and this is what I had to say.