Crayon Cage
Malik Windsor
We’re packed together in this crayon cage
Different shades, different names, but you still get waves.
Texture a bit different but you still rock braids, and retro jays
And living on a block subject to police raids.
Racial profiling, and stereotyping
Yelling about dark skin vs light skin,
And why we shouldn’t mix the white in.
How they paint us all the same,
On this blue and green frame,
We’re just black and brown polka dots of pain.
Savage hues and violent pigmentations
What we do to get these allegations?
Color white lies and spread misinformation?
Redraw history, but erase the white from the painting?
Or strip away the wax, so that white only shines on the pavement? 400 years of enslavement, and miscegenous engagements?
Nah, that’s what you did to us,
Separate the whites but the darks blended up
Bleached in democracy,
Then mixed on a canvas dirty with pigmentocracy
The hypocrisy!
We’re packed together in this crayon cage
Different shades, different names, but we still share pain.
