Where I Come From

Where are you from?

With ease I reply, I am from the Midwest.

But this answer doesn’t seem to satisfy

The eyes that are continuously

Burning, questioning, yearning for a reply

That makes sense in their eyes.

The eyes of my classmates,

Of my teachers,

And even of my cousins.

I am Black.

However, where I came from

Does not compare with the color of my skin.

 

I come from negligence and compassion,

Obedience and persistence.

Irish, German, English, Native American, and French

Describes the main percentage of my mother’s ethnicity.

Her father’s heritage had made his tongue as sharp as knives

And his back hand as tough as the leather on his belt,

Which he so wrongly used.

Hope and compassion

Lived on in my mother’s eyes

Influencing me to a life of faith.

Religious faith deeply intertwined

In my family’s roots.

 

My father grew up deeply rooted

In ways of obedience,

And the fact that I am here today

Shows his persistence.

He believed a great education lead to

The greatest opportunities in the future.

He sought destinations

Outside of his homeland Ghana,

A country built on the finest of leaders

To make its nation great and strong.

Who knew a one way ticket from West Africa

To America could be so life changing?

 

Promises of a better tomorrow

Were on the horizon,            

Left on the lips of the freedom fighters.

Discrimination still dared to stare

At my father, face to face.

Never once has he stopped moving forward.

Not when he committed to an interracial marriage,

Not when my parents faced poverty,

Not when doors slammed in his face

Due to his skin pigmentation.

My family fought these challenges

So I could have greater opportunities today.

 

Where do I come from you ask?

I come from determination

And intelligence and love.

I am Ghanaian, Irish, German, and Native American

So much more then what is the label of Black.

I can not and will not

Change the accusations and lingering glances,

Because I wish to prove myself,

Make my family proud.

This is what makes me

Where I came from

And forward is how I am always moving.

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