Poem: Discrimaniggawhitegurl

I'm not a huge fan of peoms, but this one in Spectrum magazine caught my eye. It's by a student at Oakwood College, a predominantly Afro-American Adventist university.

"Discrimaniggawhitegurl"
by Katie J. Roddy

Like Ashley "the pieces of me" are scattered throughout these
trees, these acorns, and these Oaks
Been here for twenty years, see this here is all I know
Grew up not showing what shade I was knowing
Guess I didn't see the difference between me and the next
shade of brown girl
Maybe I was ignorant or just livin' in King's Dream world
Took fifteen years for me to understand the problem
Been five more and still and I still haven't solved it
It's been real and it gets tough
And these two together make me real tough enough
Almost called it quits in high school, me and Kim said this is
enough
So I left the place that I grew up in
Still calling it home 'cause it was where I was raised and born
And all they would say was Katie come back you know you're
black...
In other words you're too cool to be the race you are so
we gladly accept you into ours
But I took it as an insult almost causing me to revolt
But I sat back and realized that I know and they don't
What if I called ya'll white
Would you still have black pride or would it make you angry
inside
My father came here in the sixties back when Oakwood didn't
take kindly to those white
hippies
So any story I could ever bring to my mom and him
They'd say Katie we're been there done that came back and
took a nap
And you see we're still standing outlasting many of the
"Reverse Racists"
Two wrong don't make a right
And these two wrongs don't make me white
They make me fight for what is right
Why reject someone for being born who's different from your
norm
Why get mad at me for falling in love with someone who's
"too black for me?"
That's ignorant Open your mind 'cause we're running out
of time
The Lord is coming soon and in heaven there's no room for
Racism
(Published with permission)

Powerful and insightful. I think racism happens not only when you look down on the members of another culture, but also when you expect them to interact with you in terms of your culture. My ideal is to have the culture of a Heaven that includes "every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Rev. 14:6)