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.