So
tell me who the hell I am
Tell me which box to check
porque no tengo ningun derecho de
escoger mi porpia identidad
I have darker pigmentation so I must Not be “Normal”
Because others as well as I refuse to check the “White”
or any other colonized box
You are privileged to be the painter of our society
to cover-up what you perceived as “ugly” and not “civilized”
I don’t give a fuck about YOUR Racial Categories
Yet this Social Formation has kept so many of us Oppressed
Some of us see it everywhere and
others just stand in denial and refuse see that social construct
I prohibit you from using my back as a bridge,
as an excuse,
as a validator of my actions
I prohibit you to take my swab
to be used as an experiment
I refuse to be your medical slave
I Don’t need You to tell me who my
ancestors are
I don’t need You to tell me which box
I should be checking off
Yes, I am another angry person of color !
and I have every right to be
“Solo la gente que sufre siente el dolor”
I take a deep breathe,
open my eyes
and realize there’s much to be angry about
and much work to get done
I can totally relate to what you are saying Yaneli. Often times I don’t know who I am. When it comes to filling out these types of boxes to classified yourself, either as white or non-white, I stop and look at my skin. I’m for sure not white, I’m brown. And yes my people were colonized, but I refuse to check that I’m white because technically that’s what you are supposed to check. The color of my skin is the beautiful color of my indigenous roots and there is no box for that!
ReplyDeleteIt’s really interesting how you say that so many of us are oppressed and some of us could see that oppression and the social construct. Though, others can not. From my family I’m always the one talking about oppression, racism, and the injustices that we live day in and day out. My cousins that are around the same age as me have adopted themselves to live like this. They ignore the fact that this even exist. They don’t want to hear me and they tell me that “I exaggerate”. It’s true that those that suffer are the ones that feel the pain. I feel the pain for those that suffer and those that don’t want to see the internal oppression. Change comes in so many different forms. I think that for me it will be through education. For example, my mother she doesn’t know what the hell is going on when I don’t want to check any box or when she tells me “que significa eso?”, you can’t really give a short explanation because it’s not so simple. Those are the times that I get angry and as much as I want to understand and have patience for, I can’t. “There is so much work to get done”.