Poem: We Are Too

Source: https://feminacida.com.ar/racismo-en-america-latina-relatos-en-primera-persona/

Source: https://feminacida.com.ar/racismo-en-america-latina-relatos-en-primera-persona/

By Daniela Díaz Azcúnaga

We Are Too

Dear Latin American,

we judge the racist actions of the United States

not seeing we’re also the problem

of the very thing we condemn;

 

if we share the same reality

with a long history of pain

why do we claim diversity

if we also incite to reprehend.

 

We fought the privilege 

of a crown in our lands,

then, weightily,

say we don’t carry those same scars.

 

In all our innocent jokes

we wear our best disguise

pretending not to see the colour

on which we later act upon.

 

How foolish is our pride

rejoicing continental nationalism, 

the irony that Jose Martí’s aspiration 

would hide another caste system.

 

What kind of mind is odder

than ours who celebrate death,

and then do nothing when

our coloured family ends up there.

 

Afro descendant, Asian and Indigenous Latin Americans

we all claim to hold equal state,

but if they err, we reprehend

we still punish even if they do us well.

 

Latin America bleeds mestizaje,

it pumps life to our rich soils,

how can we then label someone too indigenous,

and Afro or Asian descendants not part of us. 

 

We are always so foolish,

our judging of others unfair;

while we blame one for cruelty

we’re here playing the same game.

 

Why must melanin 

come at an expense? 

Why must one be outraged

of dehumanising attacks on race?

 

Who has embraced

the greater blame of our deeds?

Them, who, put down with force, fall,

or their children, who have never been allowed to stand up?

 

Who is more to blame,

our brothers and sisters who blind 

themselves from their own racist judgment?

Or those who use that same judgment to blind others?

 

Do not claim to be outraged

at a situation of our own doing;

speak out to the injustice of others

but admit with courage our own coloured scars.

 

The cries in the United States give wings

to our brothers and sisters:

They have ignited the spark of an anger flame

We now have the opportunity to amend our intolerantmistakes.

 

We carry a complex and mixed

inherited past.

Learn that we are more a kaleidoscope

than a crystal-clear glass.

 

We are diverse, complex and culturally rich 

but inherently,

we all should be equal 

to everybody else.

 

Leave off our embellishment

of a diverse identity, 

and, with greater cause, 

admit we too, are racist



Daniela is a Mexican student, currently in her second year of BA in Liberal Arts with a major in Politics at King’s College. She enjoys writing about environmental and social justice affairs, especially those concerning minority groups such as women, children or indigenous groups.