From high-end restaurants

to invitation-only shops. Department

store spies have shadowed me.

An outcast in exquisite malls

featuring items they assume are

beyond this minority’s grasp.

Pure judgment in their eyes

I sense when I arrive. It’s always

‘that look,’ and thought process.

“Who let you in?”

“How can you afford to walk through

these doors?”

“Wrong color, wrong place.”

I have received this slight

despite my talent or intellect.

Snide compliments behind smiles.

It’s a look I have witnessed

and learned to ignore from racists,

and elitists who still believe in ‘Jim Crow’

laws.

I am well aware of my skin tone

and the unwarranted bias produced.

I belong where my life takes me

your opinion is not invited to attend.