when my brother asks why
(as a queer/dark-skinned woman)
representation in media matters
to me;
why a good story isn't enough,
//
i point to the bible,
to the bleached pages of the new testament
where the white saviour (trope) is born:
//
Christmas day,
in a stable in bethlehem,
from his teenage mother
alongside his step-father:
joseph
//
and here the irony is not lost
(in translation)
//
say mary is a black woman
not entirely sure of who the father of her son is,
then she is a slut,
the epitome of all that is wrong with black culture
//
ignore the fact:
she will dedicate her life to raising him right,
ensuring he is provided every opportunity
her three minimum wage jobs can afford
//
after all,
his life will likely end abruptly,
at the right hand of a trigger happy cop,
a crucifixion, of sorts.
but need not sympathise,
his was a life doomed before it was conceived,
//
a cautionary tale of what will become of black mother's faults and failings:
a dead son.
a broken heart.
a name dragged through the mud, for no reason at all.
//
conversely,
if it is a white woman,
unblemished and soft spoken
then she is mother of the messiah,
birther of the world's saviour,
godly by association.
//
which is to say,
her purity - symbolised by her depicted whiteness,
will give meaning to his death
make it a sacrifice,
make him a martyr:
for the right(s) cause.
//
and isn't this cultural appropriation at its finest?
black woman does something then she is:
ridiculed. shamed. condemned.
//
white woman does the exact same thing,
then she is a holy thing,
her name plastered everywhere,
she and her son a role model to everyone
as white/pure as them.
even if the story wasn't theirs to tell,
in the first place.
- imagine being so confident in your supremacy you even white wash the son of god himself.
-
accidentally published this three or so hours ago because I'm a hot mess. soz.
**also linked above in the poem that inspired this one.
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the failings of a surgically healed heart | a collection
Poesía「 WATTYS 2019 WINNER 」 the failings of a surgically healed heart, is a series of autobiographical poems arranged into six thematic parts to form a collection which examines the idea of the collective and how that informs individual. i. family an exp...
