“Welcome to America: You’re Black Now.”

There’s a hard truth immigrants discover too late... in America, the system doesn’t care where your passport says you’re from. Once your skin crosses a certain shade, you’re Black.

You could be Kenyan, Ghanaian, or Nigerian,  proud of your home, fluent in your language but if you get stopped by police, they won’t see any of that. They’ll see color first.

Some try to dodge that by claiming distance. “I’m not Black, I’m African.” But denial doesn’t grant immunity. America runs on visual shorthand,  you’re either white or not white. Everything else gets folded into stereotypes and suspicion.

And while you may be a guest here, we were born in this storm.But this label we have took hold to it and redefined it for generations.

So hold your heritage with pride. But don’t belittle ours because it’s fragmented. We didn’t forget Africa. We were forcibly severed from it.

And if you can’t see us as African, fine... but don’t erase us as Black, because that’s all this country has ever allowed us to be.

We are Black. We are American.

Two truths that no one can take from us.

Because we were born Black.

We’ll die Black.

And we’ll remain Black... forever.