I WAS THIRTEEN...

I was thirteen...

I was thirteen when I came to a new country

A country that was different from my own

A country that I dreamed of going to...

I was happy...

I was thirteen when everything changed...

I was thirteen when I learned that I was different due to the colour of my skin...

I was considered a threat

A thief

A monster

Aggressive

Angry

I was thirteen when I realized that protection from the people that swore to protect us were not to be trusted anymore...

or maybe when they said to protect the people they didn't mean people that looked like me.

I was thirteen when I realized that my braids and curls are "unprofessional"...

but not on them huh...

I was thirteen when I realized I couldn't dress a certain way,

couldn't speak a certain way,

couldn't act a certain way,

I was thirteen when I realized that speaking up for myself was an aggressive behaviour...

"come down or we'll call the police"...

funny I didn't even say nothing...

I was thirteen when I discovered that my whole future was planned out for me by them

"She's gonna be a teen mom," they said

"She's never gonna graduate," they said

"She's no one," they said

I was thirteen and naive...

but I never believed them...

First forward to 2023;

I'm not a teen mom...

I'm at university now...

I am someone...

I am a child of God and a proud black woman!

I'm not tryna prove something

I'm trying to tell something

a story perhaps...

and this is the start of my story...