Some Obstacles Are Planted By Those Who Test Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

...and the fact is this...
I am not one on a mission,
To prove to those who witness...
I am here to exist.
Nor do I hesitate to debate a foolishness.

The first thing most would come to think,
When I take opportunities...
To declare I am black,
Is someone prepared to defend that fact!
Or feel I must attack because I am labelled that.

Listen...
The color of one's skin,
Has little to do with the mind within them.
And I will not allow a scrimmage,
To scuffle with in set defined limits.
Or restrict my life,
To choose what I do because it is liked.

Although I will admit,
Some obstacles are planted by those who test...
With a purpose to discourage my ambitiousness.
And I've learned not to get upset,
By those representing that kind of ignorance left.
Either at my door to greet.
Or laid before my placed footsteps!