Just Cause I’m Mixed

by Afro DZ ak

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean that I’m mixed up

Inherently confused or I need to be fixed up

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m a mule

So don’t call me ‘mulatto,’ thinkin it’s cool

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m adopted

Yes, she’s white, and yes, she’s my biological mama

But whether or not I was adopted, you ain’t got the right

To stare or make comments cause my mother is white

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m ‘not Black’

Cuz the concept we can have only one identity is wack

And I stand proudly with all my people of color

Painting broad concepts of ‘sister’ and ‘brother’

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m ill-conceived

As words like ‘miscegenation’ would have you believe

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m ashamed

Cuz the ‘race’ of my mom and my dad ain’t the same

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean I’m predictable

So sayin ‘mixed people all do this’ or ‘mixed people are all like that’ is despicable

Just Cause I’m Mixed, and I rock a big fro

Don’t mean I’m Maxwell, Lenny Kravitz, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, or ‘that guy in that commercial for jeans, beer, or cologne’

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean that I’m ‘Other’

Miscellaneous, Oreo, or the ‘half & half brother’

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean racism has ended

As some ignorant conservative politicians have pretended

Just Cause I’m Mixed, that don’t mean that I’m perfect

Like some kind of ‘hybrid vigor’ has made my genes superior to mere earthlings

Cuz being Multiracial is a blessing and a curse

It’s better and it’s worse, it’s last and it’s first

It’s nothing and it’s everything, it’s yin and it’s yang

It’s the apocalypse, the creation, and the big bang

It’s a subject that inspires me to write

It’s a commonality which has helped me unite

With other Mixed people who can relate all across the earth

But being Mixed does not define my personal worth

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Afro DZ ak is a multi-instrumentalist MC who uses music, hip-hop and spoken-word poetry to promote positive social change. An on-stage triple threat, Afro DZ ak wields a mighty trumpet, plays keys, and rhymes on the mic. His debut solo album Elevation was released through Gnawledge Records in 2008.