Friday, August 31, 2007

A poem for the ones I work with

Gay white people piss me off.

No, let me rephrase.

It's not all gay white people, it's the ones that serve as conduits
for white culture.
The ones that claim to "get it" because they're gay.
The ones that say the building across the street is "ghetto" because it needs a new coat of whitewash.

Ha. no pun intended, but I'll take it.

I can't stand these cats who take the blasé approach to Diversity Training,
not out of strong politics, but out of
lack.

Who believe that dealing with issues of race in this work place
would be preaching to the choir,
Who focus more on being straight-
inclusive than trans-
inclusive,
Who hush their voices to talk about
"African Americans,"
Who speak their opinions as universal truths.

I hate it when they try to explain to me the "reality" of the situation,
Like I don't have eyes and ears and a brain of my own,
Like thinking trumps feeling like rock to scissors,
Like their Beverly Hills mansion is some Medieval watchtower from which they survey the city below.

Science and reason are their new religion that turn fiction
to fact with
anthropology,
physiognomy,
and three taps of a hat.

They forget the connection between the birth of the "homosexual" and
The Birth of a Nation;
Forget to fight for their right to marry AND her freedom to choose.

It's not that they're not well-meaning,
but when they blow off an immigration rally,
opting instead for "exotic" decorations and margarita happy hour,
I want to SCREAM.

And when they think pictoral representation is the problem, not a symptom,
when they police each other about being "PC",
I want to take their PC and shove it up their ass.

Yeah, it's times like these that them gay white conduits piss me the hell off.

2 comments:

kg said...

YES! you would think i wrote this. im feeling this. you gave it.

kameelah said...

yes, this is really powerful. thanks for writing.