Im just like you......ode to my inner city youth

When you look at me from the outside what do you see?

A young woman who has all the answers?

Someone who can’t begin to understand who you are or what you are going through?

You would never know I’m just like you

I grew up in a home ruled by alcoholism and abuse

I’m just like you

I witnessed first hand the absence of a father; the only difference is mine lived with me.

I’m just like you

Moving from place to place and sometimes not knowing where I was going to sleep or if my family would ever be okay

I’m just like you

A hardworking mother who struggled and suffered by a man’s hand because that’s how the south raised her

I’m just like you

Driving up north to visit a family member that was sentenced to suffer for trying to take the wrong rode out of the hood

I’m just like you

Witness to those I love dying around me and not being able to do anything but just deal with it

I’m just like you

Picking up a flag for reasons I still don’t understand and making a crayola box color more important than the one etched into my skin that I live with everyday

I’m just like you

Cutting school, drinking, smoking, fighting, robbing, selling, being jumped, jumping others opening up Pandora’s Box

I’m just like you

Watching as my mother struggles to provide me with a better life than she had

I’m just like you

Hitting rock bottom dropping that flag after realizing that I have to be the change I want to see

I’m just like you

Throwing everything into proving to everyone but most importantly to myself that I don’t have to be a product of my environment

This could be you

Separating myself from those trying to drag me down because they want me to be on their level because they already ruined their own lives

This could be you

Realizing that the only way to know your future is to create it

This could be you

Going to college and discovering a whole new world I never knew existed

This could be you

Going to graduate school to further my career because why stop at a Bachelors?

This could be you

Surrounding myself with people who build each other up not tear each other down

This could be you

Switching my chosen career path to help those who were just like me that lost their way and help them to find it

I hope…….I truly hope this is you