Monday 20 March 2017

A Response to Racism

You look at my warm skin,
it's dark; like chocolate
maybe even lighter,
It invites you in
I invite you in
with smiles, warm greetings
a good nature

You take one look at me,
At my skin,
My accent
which is a wee bit different,
My dark eyes and dark hair
In comparison to yours,
See, that’s where you make the mistake
You compare
I don't

You take one look at me
Comparing;
Establishing yourself higher
Me lower
Who gave you that authority?

You retreat within yourselves
You would call it 'your kind'
I wouldn't.
I'd just call you humans
You seem to disagree
To you, that would mean we are the same
And it's clear by your wall, you don't agree
So be it.

You stare at me,
Judging
my darker skin
my Pakistani accent,
I pronounce the words like you:
To-may-to
Po-tay-to
It's not enough for you

I sound different
I mix two languages:
usne mujhe dekha weirdly
You look at me ajeeb se

I mould cultures
create a new one,
You look at me ajeeb se,
You don't think I'm good enough,
My land, my language
inferior to yours,
You want to teach me
Correct me

I stand up to you
My naksha, my dil, my zabaan
My rang
Is mine,
You cannot demean it

You fight back
Invading my zameen
A zameen you will never understand

Picking at my parts
Exotic, you call it
I call it orientalist
My chai, my salan, my naan
You take for your own,
But you don't understand it,
You call it curry
It will never be curry

You think I'm barbaric
uneducated, a thief
or a terrorist
I'm so much more

You want to lead me forward,
I should tell you
I don't need you to,
In terms of humanity
I reached there way before you

So when I sit across you
don't giggle
don't exchange looks
don't be surprised
I'm the same as you
There's no need to stare.