I came from a literal different continent
I grew up with the sentiments of a different time.
My parents were cops,
But please, don't blame them.

Would you like to know what they raised?

A late female suffragist. Yes, my father approves.
A female who knows how to wield a baton, she smiles
Then strikes,
Because you are a threat.

She was also educated that when pulled over
Keep your hands in plain sight, do not ****.
Theres something in the water in America,
Something that makes them act like that at a traffic stop, and my parents refused for me to be the victim.
They refused to see me on the news.

My parents haven't been on this continent in over 2 and half decades.
I do not know of the wrongs they possibly committed
But, I also know my mother screams kindness is free..
At me.

She will bend over backwards to make another life easier,
Is this guilt or is this humility?
I do not know.

My family is a century old *** of honey can dos
And jimmying without asking a professional.
We were poor, for the last 200 hundred years.
Is this hopefully where we found our recipes?
Destitution?
We didn't steal them right?

A black coworker discussed her family recipe for collard greens...
I chimed in. Couldn't help it, so far in the north here.
Black pepper is spicy here.
I'm so alone here.

I'm so incorrect.
I'm sorry.
I don't know how it is up north
But, my chiming in, down south?
I'd be fried and sliced up for Thanksgiving.
And that would have been fair.

I want to learn
You're all so confusing.
Teach me to mind my mouth, please.