Darkie - Propaganda, Jackie Hill-Perry

Pickaninny fieldhand, just another darkie

Blue black, big lip, motherland monkey

Dark skin, nappy head, always being ugly

You just another darkie, you just another darkie

When you hear ‘em talking, just love ‘em and keep walking

Prayed for you, brothers, the masters done brainwashed 'em

Say it loud for ‘em, ignoring all of the mocking

You just another darkie, you just another darkie

I used to wish I was Puerto-Rican

‘Cause that type of black was different

They had curly hair and accents

And I would be called exotic

I would lie and say I’m half-something

Mixed with this and that of sorts

Anything to not just be a fieldhand descendent

I knew black meant I was beautiful

X Clan done taught me that much

That ain’t stop the black folks, black jokes at lunch

I had Shaka Zulu, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun posters

Hanging on my walls to ease the pain of them boulders

Thrown ‘em, so ashamed I got the round nose of a king

I’m from the most mimicked culture but that ain’t do a thing for my self-image

Subjected to a standard I could never meet

Genetics don’t let blue eyes ever come with black feet

Culture say that black feet don’t belong on skateboards

They should stay on reservations;

Mama Winnie came for ‘em

Black people self-police «you sound white when you speak»

Why your hair so nappy?

You was just another darkie

Fat lip, wide nose (you just another darkie)

Looking like some burnt toast (you just another darkie)

Nappy headed, so gross (you just another darkie)

Master got ‘em so fooled (you just another darkie)

Some people still blind (you just another darkie)

Hating on they own kind (you just another darkie)

Put your fist in the sky

And don’t pay ‘em no mind (you just another darkie)

Man, why should I care at all

When you burn your own city whole?

And your daughter want a white doll

Man, y’all don’t even like y’all

I remember they told me I would look better if I was lighter

Get wedded on the island with the dress to match my silence

Tell your melanin be quiet, it’s too loud to match the culture

The vultures of the media, Wikipedia wrote the posters

Who you mailin' to?

Who you selling to?

Is your cerebellum bailing you out?

Or is you jailed by the mouth that told you failin' to not be yourself?

I know I believed it, I know I repeated what was me sleeping

Killing my dreams, maybe if I was thicker my skin wouldn’t make a scene

Such a protagonist activist for a massive king

They treat him like the villain yet they don’t want what master schemes

Living like immigrants yet they don’t want the master’s things

Who’s a slave?

Who’s the one to blame for the nappyness, the averages?

Love over hate is the fraction with the happiest

Mathematicians adding the blackness African applicants

The night embedded, I don’t regret it, the blackest skin

Fat lip, wide nose (you just another darkie)

Looking like some burnt toast (you just another darkie)

Nappy headed, so gross (you just another darkie)

Master got ‘em so fooled (you just another darkie)

Some people still blind (you just another darkie)

Hating on they own kind (you just another darkie)

Put your fist in the sky

And don’t pay ‘em no mind (you just another darkie)

Man, why should I care at all

When you burn your own city whole?

And your daughter want a white doll

Man, y’all don’t even like y’all