Am I?

Who am I? Am I my hair? Am I my weight? Or am I my skin?
I am not the dumb, gullible, ignorant girl you think I am!
So many times I heard "Stay in your place and stay out the way".
What place? Am I a statue? Am I supposed to be lifeless?
And if I may ask, what is my place? Oh, you want me to not
fight to be heard? To not have a voice?  To let you have your way
and i'm left to fight to survive? Do I deserve any less of success than you
because i'm black? Am I not still beautiful? Should my mom not
tell me to work hard and fight for what I believe in? Should she say "wait
your turn, honey"? Should I be under your command? Smile when you say?
Speak when spoken to? If that was the case, "Seperated but Equal"
would be considered constitutional instead of a huge contradiction
within itself! If I was still under your command, I would've never
been able to write this poem. Never would've known where a period go
or even know how to read. More importantly, Martin Luther King would've
never had a dream!