
#unraced, #eraced
A Poem in (the) Twitter Verse*
Racism is not just about white people and non-white people hating. It is about who has “race”.
In the United States, there are “un-raced” bodies and “e-raced” bodies.
E-raced means there’s a social algorithm that makes your color, culture, religion and customs an opaque burden.
Un-raced means your color, culture, religion and customs are invisible and weightless.
If you are un-raced, sometimes you turn around to see racism in the distance, and you hate it.
If you are e-raced, you are the physical location of racism. You see it in the mirror, and you hate it.
If you are un-raced, you hear about shootings and poverty and say “what a shame.”
If you are e-raced, you wonder if you are next, or if someone in your family just died.
Most white people in the United States are un-raced.
Most everyone who is not white in the US is e-raced.
The Bundy family and their accomplices are free because they are un-raced.
The Alt-Right wants to protect the exclusive white privilege of being un-raced.
White liberals who write songs to speak for brown mouths are un-raced.
The Movement for Black Lives is a demand for an end to being e-raced.
Black youths being killed by police or each other are being e-raced.
Black conservatives being thrown out of Republican rallies as thugs are also being e-raced.
Muslim women having their scarves ripped off their heads are being e-raced.
Latino/a/xs being told to speak English are being e-rased.
The tribes protesting at Standing Rock are being e-raced…again.
I have never experienced the United States in an un-raced body.
Every day I wake up to news that reminds me how often and how easily my body is e-raced.
America, seen from inside an e-raced body is a nightmare.
No government or President alone can solve the tragedy of the un-raced vs. the e-raced.
Regardless of how you are “raced”, don’t vote for an ideology…vote to be seen.
The goal is not to be un-raced or e-raced.
The Goal is learning to share what it means to be human-raced.
-ALD
*This “poem” originally appeared line-by-line on Twitter