Monday, February 11, 2019

The Umpteenth Time


The Umpteenth Time

(This poem contains strong language)

It's not just the painted lips 
and polish on the face

that make blackface 
an utter disgrace

It's the hateful legacy
The cruel lies

of sub human
people

who shuck and jive

Bow, and scrape,
 and come up with harebrained
schemes

Blowing up in their face 
like Minstrel Show scenes

Lovable losers who should 
know their place

and the Three-Fifth Compromise
of the United States

It's the perpetual image of
the good natured buffoon

The nigga jim and sassy, mammy coon

It's the decades, upon decades, of horrible fate
The lynchings, executions and black babies 
as gator bait

It's the rapes, castrations
No voice, no rights

It's the, "Don't get caught in my town,
jigaboo, when day turns to night"

It's the insidious influence of those 
who "blacked"

creating stereotypes perceived as authentic,
as fact

It's the sick fascination, the envy, the desire, the fear
The unprovoked mocking that has brought us here

To the place where I write from the depths of my mind
why blackface is so offensive, for the umpteenth time

T.C

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