I don't care what anyone says Im African Look at my skin Look at my hair Look at my nose Listen to my voice Those inflections aren't French Those nostrils aren't English This hair isn't Taino This skin isn't white This skin is black! This skin formed melanin Under the same sun That beat my ancestors' backs in the cane fields My mind was educated On the same land Where we were enslaved So you can't tell me That I'm something new I am an African woman First and foremost They haven't made me into anything else By kidnapping me By enslaving me By impoverishing me By making me fight for what is rightfully mine My lineage Lies in the motherland Not on a slave ship I was African then I am African now I'll be African tomorrow I will give birth to African children We will know freedom in our lifetime