-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [BRC-ANN] POEM: Wanted Dead or Alive Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 07:52:26 -0500 (EST) From: Art McGee <radicalnegro at yahoo.com> Reply-To: tara.atluri at utoronto.ca To: brc-announce at lists.tao.ca
http://rabble.ca/everyones_a_critic.shtml?x=3234
Rabble (Canada)
October 26, 2001
Wanted Dead or Alive
By Tara Atluri <tara.atluri at utoronto.ca>
Wanted dead or alive Wanted dead or alive
When the right bodies bleed red it's red alert on brown skin funny head dresses and last names Didn't have a problem tagging along on the mehndi meditation bandwagon But when more than overpriced incense is burning you want to know why the hell we ever came.
Let's grieve for the America we used to know Even though for some of us burning buildings police presence and everyday living have started to look the same Even though some of us have been used for target practice since we came.
And the woman at the store in the shopping mall Malled by racks of discount boutique fashion laced with traces of an immigrants blood says Let's grieve for the America we used to know.
All dreams and dollars and safety and peace Pieces of apple pie that never got divvied up to aunties and sisters getting paid by the piece When brown hands bleed red it seems to get blacked out in the local press release.
When their veins popped and backs cracked like a World Trade tower it never made no primetime TV hour.
When bombs were going off in heads of brown-skinned people told to explode language and custom and myth 'cause it was dirty and backward and might get you deported.
No one said Americans under attack They said You can't stand the heat in the slave-wage kitchen get your gun smuggling, terrorist ass back where you came from.
To whatever country you're from that don't respect human rights Although I see more lefts than rights Leftover jobs you say we're stealing Leftover healthcare that leave our people bleeding Leftover stereotype from Hollywood blockbuster hit where a man in a turban threatens what's left of Harrison Ford's machismo Whoops there goes the last of it.
Now that the cameo's over he's hung out to dry 'cause you know there ain't gonna be no brown folks on TV unless there's a bomb or yoga studio nearby.
And the television newspaper radio station print front page clip of nondescript illegal paki immigrant to make white America feel enraged and appeased 'cause they all seem to agree that this is a sign that it's time to sweep the streets of those that just can't seem to understand that America was built on creeds and mottos and master-race plans.
That we should all observe five minutes of silence at major retails chains where brown bodies have laid down their lives so white backs can get clothed for cheap Blisters on fingers and extra mild curry so white tummies can always eat.
Men in turbans women in hijab beaten down detained asked to spell out holy names.
Make you believe murder is an import just like dishes that are too spicy you can send it back from where it came.
Well I have a news flash for you We can't grieve for America as it used to be as it once was safe from murder and mayhem before ill shit was imported The illest murders on this soil are still celebrated in turkey dinners now replaced by Chinese food orders.
America was built on mass genocide for which it has never apologized Unlimited justice for the nation but let's just forget that little matter of slavery They'll repair every scabbed white knee before there's an ounce of reparation.
Eloquent speeches about the value of lives but when it comes to freezing starving poor when it came to Rwanda then we ain't so sure.
So don't give me this Land of peace and hope tarnished by an Asian invasion bullshit When America is a nation of minefields and graves Of civilian targets never once missed.
No one counts causalities of everyday war That doesn't make your globe or your star No tribute CD for the causalities of Caucasian normalcy.
Where is the headline saying America Attacks? Attacks decency dignity with every back cracked blood pact welfare cheque held back sacred forest hacked.
It's not that I don't feel for people who died It's not that I don't feel for people's fears But I just want y'all to remember that while some bombs can detonate quickly the lady liberty I know has been burning crosses for years.
--
Tara Atluri facilitates the Women of Colour group at the University of Toronto's Women's Centre and acts as co-coordinator of the centre. Her rants -- called spoken word -- are a feature of Radio O.P.I.R.G. on CIUT 89.5. She presented the above spoken-word piece at Media Democracy Day in Toronto.
Copyright (c) 2001 Tara Atluri. All Rights Reserved.
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