Safe To Be Me

[Chorus: Jordin Sparks] I don't wanna say the wrong thing I don't wanna be the wrong thing Where do I belong when the skin don't feel like home? Tell me when it's safe to be me [Verse 1: Tedashii] Mulatto, mutt, mixed, half-breed I've heard it all, but which hat fits? Where do I go to find the ones like this? They say love is a drug, can I get that fix? Is it safe to come out after years of tryna pick a side? I'm livin' with doubt Hard to be an unknown tryna live here with clout Saw the world fall apart over race in the South [Interlude] We are denied not only civil rights, but even human rights [Verse 2: Tedashii] Mama raised me with pride Not saved 'cause of my race, but, which one is mine 'Cause I thought I was adopted 'til the day I was nine And that's when I felt like an outsider for the very first time Folks call me everything but a child of the king No bubble for my pencil on they S-A-T's Is he black? Is he a thug? Is he white? Is he rich? Is he Asian? Is he smart? Is he, what? Oh, he mixed [Chorus: Jordin Sparks] I don't wanna say the wrong thing (I don't) I don't wanna be the wrong thing Where do I belong when the skin don't feel like home? Tell me when it's safe to be me [Verse 3: Tedashii] If no one can identify me, can they identify with me? It feels like the truth's a lie when they say that they get me Ethnically ambiguous, where am I indigenous? Exotic or hideous, does anyone consider this? Never ceases to amaze me how people just keep forgettin' They're not the only ones created in God's image Unfortunate torture for the kids like me This oppression still rampant in the land of the free [Chorus: Jordin Sparks] I don't wanna say the wrong thing, no I don't wanna be the wrong thing Where do I belong when the skin don't feel like home? Tell me when it's safe to be me [Bridge: Jordin Sparks] Let me be Don't care what I look like, care what you want me to be Tryna tell me who I am, but nobody really knows me I can't breathe Breakin' all these chains and I'm finally free, oh [Chorus: Jordin Sparks] I don't wanna say the wrong thing, no I don't wanna be the wrong thing Where do I belong when the skin don't feel like home? Tell me when it's safe to be me Tell me when it's safe to be me