BIO
Za Khia…by definition, “Za Khia” means peaceful or tranquil, typically what she tries to portray in her poetry. Her love for poetry began in elementary school in the fifth grade. Za Khia went to UIL with a poem she had written all by herself and won first place in the Oral Reading UIL. From then on, she knew poetry would be something grand to her, and in her life, she knew she had to prove it.
Born and raised in Nacogdoches, Texas, Za Khia grew up in a pretty suburban neighborhood. She, at the age of ten, realized that if she didn’t speak for her people … no one would. She wrote several poems over the years, her favorite one being “In the eye of Judgement”, a poem she had written at age 12, about stereotyping other races that we are not familiar with based on some of the people we have heard about from that specific ethnicity.
What do you see?
When you look at me what do you see,
A black girl walking in a class full of whites and everyone turns and looks at me,
Please tell me what do you see,
The teacher talks about slavery and all the white kids look at me…,
What do you see?
A kid that will never get a college degree of a PhD,
What do you see,
An angry black woman who’s incapable of doing big things…,
Please tell me what do you see…
Or maybe I should let the light reflect on me…
Or maybe I should forget what you say and tell you what it feels like to be me…,
It feels like I am not free,
Like I am a black person hanging from a tree,
But in reality I am a queen and I truly have a dream,
I am Pro-Black, not Anti-White no matter what it may seem,
So please my white sister…tell me what you see?