Jan 2018
When I first heard about this
I believed it
It’s still true today
With some added twists
I did not realize how painful it could be
To talk about race
Skin color
Good hair
How does oral *** taste
Yes, a Cubano asked Me if Black women taste more ‘ exotic ’
Brown Paper Bag
I was born in Tortuga
My formative years were spent in Vera Cruz
Adulthood started in Houston Texas
I grew up at the corner of Argyle and Cahuenga in the armpit of Hollywood
I learned more there than My Momma ever taught Me
In Tortuga, everyone looked like Me
The only color We chased was green
When You see Black Mexicans with straight black hair, most - may - have – ties to Vera Cruz on the Gulf Coast of Mexico
The slave ship was supposed to turn right and it turned left instead
From hundreds of years of intermarriage, most of the people are dark so there is no special privilege based on skin color, just puro family or no
Texas was an instant nightmare in the daytime
Sunday morning at approximately 10:00 is the most segregated time in the state
You can see it in the Brown Paper Bag
Hollywood did not want to see anything Black
Between the sheets, keeping the beat, fixing the meat, holding a seat or in the streets
True across America
Look at early 20th Century dancers at the Apollo
Black people also bought into the mindset
The litmus test for success ?
Brown Paper Bag
My Filipino neighbors know how to throw a party
Thru a gate in the backyards, our doors were always accessible
One party had a huge crowd of visitors from Manila Metro
Somehow, the party settled into a type of invisible groups avoiding each other
I did not know White soldiers told the Filipino people that the Black soldiers had tails
Repeat the alternative facts enough times and it becomes truth
Observation led to questions and the answer given was
Brown Paper Bag
I met someone enjoyable
Pure fun
Same interests
Same flight trajectory
Or so I thought
When it was time to meet family
It fell apart
The reason that roared
And the bull that gored
Was deeply ingrained
Socially strained
And sad
The generational law was :
Don’t come home with anything darker than a brown paper bag
I believed it
It’s still true today
With some added twists
I did not realize how painful it could be
To talk about race
Skin color
Good hair
How does oral *** taste
Yes, a Cubano asked Me if Black women taste more ‘ exotic ’
Brown Paper Bag
I was born in Tortuga
My formative years were spent in Vera Cruz
Adulthood started in Houston Texas
I grew up at the corner of Argyle and Cahuenga in the armpit of Hollywood
I learned more there than My Momma ever taught Me
In Tortuga, everyone looked like Me
The only color We chased was green
When You see Black Mexicans with straight black hair, most - may - have – ties to Vera Cruz on the Gulf Coast of Mexico
The slave ship was supposed to turn right and it turned left instead
From hundreds of years of intermarriage, most of the people are dark so there is no special privilege based on skin color, just puro family or no
Texas was an instant nightmare in the daytime
Sunday morning at approximately 10:00 is the most segregated time in the state
You can see it in the Brown Paper Bag
Hollywood did not want to see anything Black
Between the sheets, keeping the beat, fixing the meat, holding a seat or in the streets
True across America
Look at early 20th Century dancers at the Apollo
Black people also bought into the mindset
The litmus test for success ?
Brown Paper Bag
My Filipino neighbors know how to throw a party
Thru a gate in the backyards, our doors were always accessible
One party had a huge crowd of visitors from Manila Metro
Somehow, the party settled into a type of invisible groups avoiding each other
I did not know White soldiers told the Filipino people that the Black soldiers had tails
Repeat the alternative facts enough times and it becomes truth
Observation led to questions and the answer given was
Brown Paper Bag
I met someone enjoyable
Pure fun
Same interests
Same flight trajectory
Or so I thought
When it was time to meet family
It fell apart
The reason that roared
And the bull that gored
Was deeply ingrained
Socially strained
And sad
The generational law was :
Don’t come home with anything darker than a brown paper bag
