When I hear..

When I hear my white counterparts utter the term 'nigga’

My mind is on automatic defense, from fear that I would end up like Trayvon Martin

Knowing my name is not a well-known term according to Microsoft

Which explains why there is always an auto correct when I type it

When I hear white folk, blatantly say the word 'nigger’

My blood curdles, because you don't nor will you ever understand the pain behind that one word.

I am an extension of my ancestors….yet I don't know who they are

I am the face of my great great great great great great grandmother, yet I do not know her name.

I walk in the footsteps of the very ancestors that were once shackled In chains to build Brooklyn

My first and middle name are the only connection to my rich African ancestry.

My blood diluted, with Scottish and indigenous people

I know that. Yet I can't find out my second cousin on my great uncle's side….what was his name again?

Are you guilty 'Massa’??? Is that why u get so offended when I ask you to not use that term…

Is that why you ask us with the fake chirpy voices 'why do you always have to bring it back to race?’

Did you know race got you where you are now?

Race got you your two-story house with ur two cars and a nice garage.

Your race got you an interview at a law firm on Wall Street when u were convicted of a felony and released 3 years ago….while my record is clear….and I never got that interview at all.

Ur race got you the job as the assistant to the CEO of Google

I didn't get the job because my hair was too unruly.

The only time you know a man is when you walk in his shoes…

So Massa, until you walk in mine until ur arrested by police for having a darker skin

Until you're killed for not having a turn signal on

Until you’re shot for having on a hoodie, a Snapple and a bag of Skittles

Until you're beaten to near death, your eye is gouged out, you’re shot in the head...and then your lifeless body is dumped in the river because some white woman 'claimed’ you raped her…. And then years later admits she lied...when all the damage was done

Until you walk in my shoes, you will never understand what is like to fear for your life as soon as you walk outside.

You say the world has changed, yet 207 African Americans were killed by police in 2017….

Yet the world has changed

When the very world is your enemy...then you can come to me and relate.Until then 'Massa’ when I hear 'nigga’ or 'nigger'. Imma assume you are dehumanizing me as a black woman...as a black person.