I want to talk about image,
how it has been reflected onto our society that straight hair and
brand names are more important than
honesty and quality,
I want to talk about brand,
and how America has been branded with the emblem of an American eagle,
not as a sign of freedom,
but as a sign of superiority.
I want to talk about exclusion,
how the kindest, wisest, nicest of people have been placed into a different box because
they don’t have bronze skin and blushed cheeks
I want to talk about how magazines and TV’s have brainwashed an entire nation.
How they form images in small minds
that will stick to the back of their eyelids when they close their eyes at night
and remind them of all the expectations they have yet to live up to.
I want to talk about character
and how it has become something of a myth
how a person who is rotten in the soul will be envied if they shop at the right stores
if they drive the right car
if they wear the right makeup.
I want to talk about how the kindest people in the community are overlooked and mocked
because they have less money
and fewer clothes
than those who cannot relate to a childhood of broken pieces.
Because they don’t fit in America’s steel box.
The box that America has built from its years of study at the University of Exclusivity.
Refusing to let anyone in who doesn’t fit the requirements.
I want to talk about how those who slip through the cracks are left behind.
Locked out.
Waiting to be recognized,
Waiting to be rescued.