Here I Am, a brown-skinned girl

Courtesy of Salvadorian Traditions.

Here I am, a brown-skinned girl

Here I am, in a white person’s world

I live and breathe the same world you do

But I don’t breathe as easily

I thought I was American

Living here all my life

I thought I was just fitting in

But really I was causing strife

For the white man’s world doesn’t call for me

For the white man’s world doesn’t set me free

“So what country are you from?”
“I bet I can guess your ethnicity”

I am me, I am me

I speak Americanese

I am me, I am me

I don’t come from across the sea

I’m from here, just like you

Admittedly I don’t fit quite right in this shoe

But I am me

I am me

Brown-skinned and free