Pretty Privilege

I heard brown skin is in - 

But it looks cuter on a Caroline. 

Hers took hours of laying outside 

But no, there’s too much melanin in mine? 

You say, 

“things aren’t how they were before,”

That colonizers don’t exist anymore 

Now Carolines take trips to Dubai 

And use Moroccan oil in their hair. 

Meanwhile, brown women are scared 

That theirs will be ripped from their heads 

And shipped across seas- 

All so that you can look more like me. 

But My hair 

looks better on a Tiffany. 

Because pretty isn’t pretty 

If it’s pretty on me.

It’s pretty when taken from far away lands

When shaved off the women of East Turkestan-

left battered and bleeding 

All because you like the feeling 

Of a long and silky look. 

Picking parts of us off like products from a book 

-Add to Cart 

-Shipping in 3-5 Days 

Colonies are a thing of yesterday 

But pretty isn’t pretty in Congo. 

It looks better on Becky when dug from their mines

Like black liner lines better under her eyes 

And not under those of a free Palestine -

Why-

Isn’t pretty, pretty. 

When the pretty is mine?