I'd encourage you to listen to the song and read through the lyrics before diving into the post.
(Lucee’s Verse)
My mother wants the best for me
I know she’s so sincere
But somewhere in our history
Her wisdom bowed down to fear
She taught me only fall in love with
beauty that was fair
My seeds will grow in ground
my roots could never bear
Fear sunk deep into my soul
And I’ll face the fire
Turn my love to gold
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
If I get blessed wit’ a dark daughter
Bet that she’ll never be afraid of water
Hair not pressed so nuthin’ to mess up
Fro so fresh everybody wanna touch
No princess, no Cinderella
We gon’ read about Assata Shakur and Coretta
Civil disobedience, peaceful protest
Before she gets slapped wit’ alternative facts
Gotta fight back with the truth, we
plant that seed in the youth, please
pray that it grow deep roots
So they know what not to believe at school
See, might be the teacher might be the text
Might be the mean girls or the cool kids
Came home sad ‘cause her lips so fat
And her hair so coarse and her skin so Black
Child ain’t dang thang wrong wit’ that
Matta fact Dad thinks you da bomb for that
All praise to the most high God for that
Put ya fist in the sky give the sun some dap
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
White supremacy
Is the enemy
In the inner me
Even centuries
After slavery
Still we tend to think
Light skinned girls finer than ebony
Ain’t no merit in talkin’ proper
Hair ain’t good ‘cause it’s straight and longer
Name ain’t bad because it’s complex
I bet Beyoncé got teased at recess
Can’t you see how they stole our minds
Made us hate on our very own kind
Why we think after all their crimes
Everything’s better if it’s almost White?
Rock your puffs and talk yo slang
Be proud dat you got a unique name
Love your Black like it’s the new thang
Treat yo’self like it’s ya birthday
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
9 - Kissed (FT Lucee)
(Lucee’s Verse)
My mother wants the best for me
I know she’s so sincere
But somewhere in our history
Her wisdom bowed down to fear
She taught me only fall in love with
beauty that was fair
My seeds will grow in ground
my roots could never bear
Fear sunk deep into my soul
And I’ll face the fire
Turn my love to gold
Though “Kissed” is an upbeat song, it is addressing one of the saddest and ugliest expressions of racism; internalized white supremacy and self-hatred among minorities. This song was birthed out of a long cry session with my homegirl and collaborator, Lucee. Lucee is afro-latina, Dominican to be precise, but she is often mistaken for an African American. Dominican heritage is a mix of Taino Indigenous Caribbeans, african slaves, and spanish colonizers. Lucee is light brown with an afro. Dominicans range widely in skin tone and hair texture, sometimes even within the same family. Certain siblings might possess more african, Taino, or white features than others. Sadly, like many colonized nations, Dominican culture suffers from the lie of white supremacy. Darker skin Dominicans are seen as less attractive and African features like coarse or poofy hair are seen as inferior. These beliefs are also held in the African American community. We suffer from self-hate. Many of us believe whiter is better. This thinking is a direct result of the intentional brainwashing that happened during slavery. Slaves were taught they were inferior in every way. Though all black people were inferior to all whites, those with features closer to white people’s were often treated better by white people and considered more attractive. After centuries of being taught such things, the lies took deep root among all people in colonized nations, and many minorities believed in their own inferiority. In her autobiography, Assata Shakur speaks about the stronghold white supremacy has on the minds of black American youth.
“Most of our fights [as kids] started over petty disputes like stepped-on shoes, flying spitballs, and the contested ownership of pens and pencils. But behind our fights, self-hatred was clearly visible… We would call each other “jungle bunnies” and “bush boogies.” We would talk about each other’s ugly, big lips and flat noses. We would call each other pickaninnies and nappy-haired so and-so’s…
Black made any insult worse. When you called somebody a ‘bastard,’ that was bad. But when you called somebody a ‘Black bastard,’ now that was terrible. In fact, when I was growing up, being called ‘Black,’ period, was grounds for fighting.
‘Who you callin’ Black?’ we would say. We had never heard the words ‘Black is beautiful’ and the idea had never occurred to most of us…
We had been completely brainwashed and we didn’t even know it. We accepted white value systems and white standards of beauty and, at times, we accepted the white man’s view of ourselves. We had never been exposed to any other point of view or any other standard of beauty.”
Sadly, these beliefs have been passed down from generation to generation. In verse one of “Kissed”, Lucee sings about some bad advice she was given by her mother. Her mother correctly observed that darker skinned people are treated worse in both Dominican and American culture. Unfortunately she responded to this observation in an unhelpful way. She encouraged Lucee to marry a white man so her children would be lighter, and therefore treated better. After all, don’t you want your kids to have the best life possible? Why would you marry someone dark, knowing your children will face more prejudice because of it? Although Lucee’s mother loves her, this particular piece of advice was “wisdom bowed down to fear.” The worst part is, in some senses her mother was correct, darker people will be treated poorly, the solution to that however must not be to avoid reproducing with dark people so your descendants are treated well. Even as a teen, Lucee realized the error of her mother’s advice. Lucee is not yet a mother, but if her children possess african features, she is willing to “face the fire” of racism and turn her love to gold. After confronting prejudice head on, it will stop the passing down of lies, like gold in the fire, her wisdom and love for her child will be purified of white supremacy. The song then goes into the chorus where Lucee sings of her commitment to teach her daughter to love herself just the way God made her, kissed by the sun.
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
If I get blessed wit’ a dark daughter
Bet that she’ll never be afraid of water
Hair not pressed so nuthin’ to mess up
Fro so fresh everybody wanna touch
No princess, no Cinderella
We gon’ read about Assata Shakur and Coretta
Civil disobedience, peaceful protest
Before she gets slapped wit’ alternative facts
Gotta fight back with the truth, we
plant that seed in the youth, please
pray that it grow deep roots
So they know what not to believe at school
See, might be the teacher might be the text
Might be the mean girls or the cool kids
White supremacist beliefs are all throughout our culture, they are taught both overtly and subtly. Parents have to be intentional about educating their children and fighting back with the truth. Most minorities develop white supremacist ideas and self hate at school, both from the the taunts of other students but also the incredibly biased version of history commonly taught in american education. Unless you go out of your way to change the narrative, the default story is one of white supremacy.
Came home sad ‘cause her lips so fat
And her hair so coarse and her skin so Black
Child ain’t dang thang wrong wit’ that
Matta fact Dad thinks you da bomb for that
All praise to the most high God for that
Put ya fist in the sky give the sun some dap
For parents of black children, it is only a matter of time before someone belittles your kid for being black. It is important to affirm that not only is their blackness not a bad thing, but it is positively a good thing that ought to be celebrated. It is a gift from God that we ought to be thankful for.
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
White supremacy
Is the enemy
In the inner me
Even centuries
After slavery
Still we tend to think
Light skinned girls finer than ebony
Ain’t no merit in talkin’ proper
Hair ain’t good ‘cause it’s straight and longer
Name ain’t bad because it’s complex
I bet Beyoncé got teased at recess
Can’t you see how they stole our minds
Made us hate on our very own kind
Why we think after all their crimes
Everything’s better if it’s almost White?
Rock your puffs and talk yo slang
Be proud dat you got a unique name
Love your Black like it’s the new thang
Treat yo’self like it’s ya birthday
The third verse is an encouragement for black people to celebrate who we are. Our skin tone, our hair texture, our lingo, our original and elaborate names, black is beautiful in every way. Do not listen to anyone who would suggest otherwise. “Love your black like it’s the new thang, treat yo’self like it’s ya birthday!”
I’ll teach my child to love
I’ll teach my child to love herself
I’ll teach my child to love
Since we’re kissed by the sun (2x)
Grace and Peace,
Micah
