Go ahead, groan.

roll your eyes, chuckle, snicker, do whatever you like.

It's that girl. Me.

You know exactly who I am.

The black girl living in a predominantly white area.

I alone fill your quota for the amount of minority friends needed to shred your "racist" card.

I am the spokesperson for the entire black race

The face you turn to when slavery is mentioned.

I know everything about black hair, and I will mock it and call it gross with you,

yet I will remain your human petting zoo.

I am the girl you mistake for a teen mother not once, not twice, but three times in one week.

I let you cover it up by saying that it was because I am so good with kids.

I choose to ignore the fact that everyone volunteering as a childcare worker is good with kids.

Everyone.

But I will get over it.

I will laugh along with you, feed you material for your racist jokes, dehumanize my own people to gain white reassurance.

"You're pretty for a black girl"

"All the other black kids are ghetto, except you"

"You're basically white"

"You're like an oreo!"

Go ahead and say all of those things to me because they are music to my ears.

I thrive off of your backhanded compliments.

I live for your affection.

I love your cat-calls on the streets because it means  that someone finds me attractive.

I am the black girl who lives in a predominantly white area,

but I am not alone, and we were all the same;

conditioned as these self-hating robots

Until we met other black people who loved themselves.

Until we stopped having to please a white society.

Until we sat in our classrooms and said what we really felt, not what our counterparts needed to hear.

Until we chose a hairstyle because we liked it, not because we felt compelled to have it.

Until we stopped letting our white counterparts use racial slang because "it's okay he's not racist"

And when that happened, we became proud of ourselves.

We are no longer just black girls in a predominantly white area.

We are not puppets.

We are not robots.

We are not spokespeople.

We are not uncomfortably smiling and accepting your ignorant compliments.

We are black girls.

We are black girls who stayed true to themselves.

We are black girls who love themselves and lift up their sisters.

We are black girls who understand that although our numbers are weak, our power is strong.

So go ahead, groan.

Roll your eyes.

Another "angry black woman."

turn your heads, flip the page, stare in disgust.

You have absolutely no idea who we are.

We are not angry. We are empowered. We are beautiful. We are intelligent.

We are black girls living in predominantly white areas,

and finally,

We are proud.

Being a black girl in a predominantly white area,

Being a black girl in general

Is amazing.