Oh, you're black?

(poems go here)

Oh, you're black? A question I get asked far too often Just because my skin is light does that mean I am not one of you? Just because my skin is light I can only do half the things darker colored people can do? Since when have we decided to kick out someone with multiple races into another category other than black? Since when do we throw away all the words MLK, Stokley, Dubois, Douglass, and Booker T. Washington once said about equality? and why was I not there?

I am black like the rest of you My ancestors had lashes across their back like the rest of you But because I am not as dark being apart of the black race is something that I lack Must I take up non-violent picket fences like King and take defiant marches like Bayard Rustin just to be recognized as apart of you Or will open your eyes and let me in this society of racial sin