I am sick and tired of being sick and tired
I am tired of the fights,
The political wars,
And the real ones
Of the lies and deceit,
Of the blinding ignorance

You don’t care
You. Don’t. Care.
Because you don’t have to
Your brothers aren’t being shot,
Your mothers aren’t being locked up
Your aunts aren’t being deported,
And your cousins aren’t beating themselves up
You don’t care,
but I wish you did

What do I have to do?
Because all my talking and all my speeches aren’t helping
I am being called an angry child,
so you can sit comfortably on your throne of privilege

So please, enjoy
Enjoy as your world crumbles and falls around you
But know this
I may be tired,
I may be fed up,
And I may be frustrated,
But I am **** sure not done yet

Change is hard
Change requires difficulty and struggle,
pain and heartache

Change is all around us
It calls for us,
beckons us to it
But change means we must act

The world is falling apart around us
The oceans are growing
Our lands are burning
Our hatred of one another takes a step forward and two back
We must strive for change

We make changes to our lives everyday
A haircut
Moving into a new house
Attending a global warming protest,
they are all changes

Change is hard
Change is unnerving
But the world needs change
Or it is about to become a whole lot more uncomfortable

I am mad
Not just mad, I am furious

People all around me lie
And cheat and steal
But worse they judge
And assume, and stereotype
So I am mad

It is the privileged
It is the privileged who judge the most
In their white castles perched on a cliffside
Their ignorance and lackluster
But they say ignorance is bliss
So I am mad

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
That's what our constitution says
Yet how can these be ours when those who are unaccepted
Those who are thrown out and tossed aside
Are forced to change for those who dominate them
So I am mad

If only
If only every Black, Asian, Native American,
gay, bi, woman, and person could see
That you are who you are
And not who you are told to be
So how am I to accept myself
If a cab driver I once had rolled his eyes at me and made me squirm in my seat
For wearing a pink wig and all black
So I am mad

I am mad
Because I can not be who I am
Because my curly hair is “too frizzy”
Because I respect the rights of others
I am mad

I am mad that I still have to be mad
I am mad
Because there were so many before me,
Yet I still have to be mad
Mad that the blissful ignorance is far too ignorant
Mad that a quiff-haired, white, christian boy tells me that having a pedophilic and sexist man as a president is better for the well-being of all than a woman ever could be
So I am still mad

I will stay mad
Mad at the ignorant
At the arrogant
At the system for changing once proud groups of people
I am mad
And I will forever be mad
Until I can look a KKK member in the eye without feeling like my life is at risk of ending

Am I not enough
Are my words not projecting
Can you not hear what I am saying
Am I not enough

Am I not enough
That my tears are just weakness,
That my worries are just in my head
Am I not enough

Am I not enough
That you stare all day,
Yet never listen to what I have to say
Am I not enough

Am I not enough
That my work and pain
My dreams and my fight
Is not a struggle,
Merely a call for attention
Am I not enough

Am I not enough
That my call for justice
Is covered by shouts of cowardice
And my love of me,
Is questioned by those who surround me
I am not enough

I am not enough
That when I preach peace
My words are twisted that I am anti-justice
I am not enough

I am not enough
That when I talk about my disgust at the wicked
They come after me, scared that a half-black girl said something true
Am I not enough.