The blurred lines between childhood and adulthood

When the lines are blurred How can we tell who we are anymore How do we know when innocence begins and when it ends Or if it ever really happened At all This was not everyone's experience But it was black children's For a black boy who had to be a man Before he could be a child Before it even began He was criminalised Before he could even walk Before he could talk Before he was even born Racism a shadow Who would forever haunt Forever stalk Forever watched A fate he never asked for A burden he would be forced to carry because of his skin colour Racism a lifelong trauma Blurring childhood and adulthood into one word A word Stripped of innocence For a black girl Everyday for her Was the burden of being labelled 'the angry black girl' Her daily routine was trying to be invisible Yet still being called ignorant Constantly Sexualised Her big brown eyes Being seen as a magnet for older guys She tries to hide But they still tried Even when she tells then she's a child They say she may have a face that is innocent But her body Is very much different She had been called 'easy' Something she learned before she learned about puberty She was Stripped of innocence When she learned silence Was survival Even if it meant she had to endure violence She knew if she spoke There was a chance she'd be murdered Or Maybe for her what was worse Was no one believing her She knew it was because she was a black girl She knew this because it happened to her mother When she was younger Her perpetrator A police officer Who knew because she was black that meant he had all the power Because who would they believe A black woman Or a white man It's obvious In a world that is controlled by a system That was built off of oppression In a world that favours white over black A world that if you're white you have innocence as a basic human right But when your black it is a privilege we lack