What is Being Black To Me?

Being Black to me is being happy, it’s being carefree. 

It’s invoking all that our ancestors wanted us to be.

We are descendants of kings, we are born of queens,

We are fixing our crowns, 

We are no longer wearing frowns. 

What is being Black is to me? It is being happy, it’s being carefree. 

It’s taken a long time, but that’s what I’m creating of myself to be. 

When I laugh I show a gap between my two front teeth

I’m told it is a sign of wealth and beauty

I use to hate it, I covered it up,

I thought it wasn’t made of idyllic stuff. 

Then there was my nose 

I thought it wasn’t ideal or in vogue

I used to run, 

I used to hide, 

I used to feel that my blackness wasn’t worth a dime.  

I grew up with skin bleaching, with European ideals, 

Never knowing how to be or how to act, 

So I stood very still. 

What is being Black to me? … It’s simply being happy it’s being carefree,

It’s being what we want it to be, 

A life filled with joy and with never ending smiles

It’s fixing our crowns, 

It’s not always wearing frowns. 

It is to be all that God wants us to be, 

To show our beauty, 

To show the richness of our soul

To be what we want, 

For all our stories to be told.  

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Written by Rebecca Olayinka

Rebecca is from London and has lived in Bristol for 14 years. Rebecca attended UWE and now works as Senior Practitioner (Social Worker) in Bristol. Rebecca loves poetry and is currently working on her first manuscript.