What Being A Woman Means

Yesterday there was a woman.
(Excuse me, a lady.)
She wore pink pumps, zipped lips, and a ladle.
Smiled politely and kept her belly full of sons.
A pin-curled pincushion with steak on the table,
this woman defined becoming
a definition.

Today there is a woman.
(Excuse me, a womyn.)
She clunks about in the ashes of burnt bras
in the shoes of women past, filling and faking
and fighting.
She’s married, she’s single, she once was a man.
She is books and wine or none at all.
This woman is choosing.

Tomorrow I will be woman first.
No breed, no class, no belief comes before this.
Not person farmer, machine
for the senses, skin shade or hip bone.
I will be lullaby and rock climb,
see saw and Wall Street.
I will decide what being
a woman means.

IG @daydreamifications

I Once Was Blind . . . (A Short Open Letter to White People)

Dear fellow white people, 

From what I understand so far, one’s “blackness” is a fundamental part of one’s identity, so to say you are “colorblind” is to say you do not acknowledge an entire group of people who do not have the privilege to NOT consider race on a daily basis. How can you respect someone you don’t acknowledge, someone you don’t SEE? 

Black and brown people don’t get to be colorblind because the color of their skin influences every facet of their lives—from walking down the street to attending a university to employment to harassment/violence/death at the hands of law enforcement. Our family and/or peers as well as the media have socially conditioned us to stereotype. Until we live in a society where we can SEE people and strip away this conditioning, then maybe we can take a true step forward. Much more importantly, if those who control every single social institution suddenly stopped discriminating/purposefully hindering/attacking/killing black and brown people, then maybe we can claim racism as a thing of the past. 

The ideology of colorblindness is that we look past skin color to one’s character and, although this is true and well-intentioned, it misses the mark. We don’t need to blind ourselves to race, we need to expose ourselves to race. (Not like that, nasty.) What I’m saying is, we can only celebrate one another with eyes wide open. 

Acknowledge your privilege and learn how to use it to benefit black and brown people, study our nation’s history, and call out your white friends on their racist behavior/opinions. No matter how much you care, you will never be able to understand the black experience. Keep your ears AND EYES open in your quest to be a good ally. 

Sincerely, 

Still Learning in California