Brown Kid

I'm the brown kid
Living in white America
My skin ain't fair
But if you care, you'll judge me on my character

The brown kid living in white America
The shame is I expect to be affected by xenophobic criteria
The brown kid living in white America
My doppelgänger featured in the news usually causes mass hysteria

Brown kid in white America
Not easy as that seems
It's no extremes
But it's everything in between

Who's willing to foot the bill for my American dream
Nuance gets lost, that's the cost of how we talk in extremes
Black and white havoc is the static of my darkest of dreams
False dichotomies often mean that I get lost in between

See, I'm the middle ground, middle child, I get left undiscussed
Radiant shade of grey but I get left off the brush
The brown sheep, though I've been walking the midst of the white flock
Wrong piece, though I've been trying to tick to the right clock

5th generation, still look brown from outta town
My proper noun is my crown but the blood still drowns down
That big screen ain't ever seemed like a mirror to me
Cause brown ain't the color of fame and that's just as clear as can be

But I never chose these circumstances, that was part of my hand
And my grandfather left everything to give me a chance
He left me with roots that I don't feel until I'm trimming my weeds
I feel like I gotta pick a side, like it's only extremes

But I'm not black and I'm not white, see I'm that coffee with cream
I'm the face of the race displaced and I'm caught in the in-between
I want acceptance but I'm two hues too far from the mean
White according to that law but I feel as far as can be

Cause I get the worst of both worlds, you see, I'm white on the pages
But a TSA agent would never claim it, I get impatient
When I see them eyes linger, can somebody please explain
How I get treated like the other, but somehow I'm still "caucasian"

Like... man I'm a good dude, it's just a skin tone
If being brown is the problem, I've always been wrong
And if that keeps me from my dreams, et it be, then they been gone
But being proud of who I am, that's not something I skimp on

See I'm the brown kid in white America
Ooo that's not as easy as it seems, no it's never been
Forever been the brown kid in white America
Ooo that's not as easy as it seems, no it's never been

Forever been the grown kid living mischaracterized
Sometimes I feel I gotta prove I've been Americanized
Gotta see my homeland through American eyes
But I refuse to lose my roots, that's where my character lies

I'm a later iteration of American dreaming
And I've been fiending for a reason why I can't be on screen
And it seems that I'm not a piece of the puzzle that they been scheming
I don't market well enough, this shade is never in season

Unless I play a role that brings stereotypes to life
If I mortgage my ethnic soul, they'll carry my life to heights
Bury my rights tonight, and live very alike the white
Then there's a small chance, in the right circumstance, that I'll be alright

But still the brown kid in white America
Ooo that's not as easy as it seems, no it's never been
Forever been the brown kid in white America
Ooo that's not as easy as it seems, no it's never been

Forever been the brown kid in White America
I'm aware that my skin ain't fair
But if you care, you'll judge me on my character

The brown kid in white America
The shame is I expect to be affected by xenophobic criteria
The brown kid in white America
My doppelgänger featured in the news usually causes mass hysteria

Brown kid in white America
Not as easy as that seems
It's no extremes, but it's everything in between
When you're the brown kid in white America