Punches

Someone asked me today why I am so angry

So I punched them in the nose.

They screeched in anger, clutching their bruised nostrils

Bewildered, they ask,

“The FUCK was that for?!”

I shrug, and go about my day.

Later, I offer them a donut and a coffee

Which they accept.

“So we’re good, right?” They glare at me

And turn their back to me.

“Why are you so angry?”

“You fucking kidding me?” they ask,

Eyes wide with indignation.

I shrug, and go back to work.

I borrowed their sweatshirt.

I was cold, and theyweren’t using it.

“Is that my sweatshirt?”

I nod, happy that they noticed my appreciation for their thing.

Even though I am much bigger than them,

I make it fit.

I made it my own.

“How,” they ask. “Did you manage to fit into it?”

“I had to rip it in some places,” I tell them, excited about my new creation.

“Like your hoop earrings and your cornrows, I’m just borrowing it.

I watch as their eyes and nostrils widen

“WHAT THE FUCK IS-”

They start, but I hold up a hand.

“Why are you so angry?”

Their anger seems to grow exponentially.

They leave me,

Trying to understand what I did.

Certainly it can’t be because of this morning?

Still baffled by the person’s hostility

I take to the timeline.

I tell them about how nasty the person was to me

I explain the situation, trying to understand;

“I mean, you punched them in the nose,”

Said one user.

“How you gon punch somebody then ask y dey mad,”

Asked another.

Some attempted to explain

The context of being punched in the face,

And how for a long time,

It was seen as an act of violence

One that could escalate.

Not like saying the N-word

Or believing that all black women are ugly

Or angry.

When I insist that I don’t understand,

They try a different approach.
“What if someone punched you in the nose?

Stole you sweatshirt?

Can you see where that may be a problem?”

As a black femme

I have to take punches every day,

In silence.

I’ve learn to take the hits,

But I can’t quite quell the angry.

Because no sooner have I recovered from the last punch to the nose

That I take a hit to the ribs.

And before I can straighten myself out from that,

I get swiped at the ankles.

Every day, I have to see

Other’s praised for things that only earn my mockery.

Things about my style of dress,

My voice,

The things I love,

Only to have someone snatch it

From my hands,

And claim it as their own.

My personality whitewashed

Made more palatable for the mass.

Erasing me from my own creation for their personal gain.

I’m nothing but a mass of emotional

Mental,

Sometimes physical bruises.

And yet, I should be happy.

Happy that I am even acknowledged.

Others just called me names

Bitch, Cunt, Violent Whore

But none of them understood;

They were just being divisive.

I get that they are upset

I really do.

However,

Every day, I deal with punches.

On a regular bases,

I have piece of my culture

Plastered all over the mainstream,

Without a face like mine profiting from it.

You had a day to handle it.

So again,

I ask,

“Why are you so angry?”

We won't do this

So it's happened. Cheeto Gaddafi finally has the nuclear codes and is our thin skinned Commander in chief. At least half of the Nation wanted to see Pumpkin Pinochet occupy the highest office in the land and that is fine. Great, even. I hope he's everything you hoped him to be. Personally, I didn't vote for the baby-carrot dick bastard. And now that he's won, I have seen some shit on my social media accounts that I would like to address before I lose all of the diplomacy and just say fuck you with a rusty spoon.

We have to look to the future and Work together

I’m not going anywhere with you. If we happen to be moving in the same direction, good for you. However, this page tells me that chances are you, or some of the people you associate with saw his misogyny, racism, the homophobia of his running mate, looked around at the white nationalism who promoted him to power and then said, “Yeah, this guy’s good for the country .” If you knew there was a good possibility that someone refused to recognize your humanity, why would you want to even associate with them let alone working together with them? Furthermore, most white people don’t want to move forward. #MAGA I know, I know. #NotAllWhitePeople. But if you were in a bakery, and you saw a sign that a little over half of the products had fatal levels of arsenic in them, would you order or just leave? Still offended?

Bernie Sanders’ would’ve won

Listen to me right now. Bernie Sanders had a fundamental flaw: In order to win the Democratic Primary, it is in your best interest of the candidate to maybe run an aggressive and inclusive campaign, ESPECIALLY in the south. Bernie Sanders did not do that. Which was the kiss of death for his campaign. Combined with the fact that he couldn’t handle dealing with protesters, democrats (Mostly People of Color) saw through his “a better economy can fix racism!” Fam. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. On a final note, I would like to address something that people seem to gloss over. Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Now, that should not matter when it comes to running a country that was found supposedly on religious freedom. A vast majority of Cheeto Gaddafi voters are Christian. And out of those, a lot seem to believe that this land is a Christian one.

Criticizing the Protest

You get mad when your latte is not soy. You holler at customer service representatives when AppleCare deviates in the slightest. Do not come out the side of your sunburned neck to say shit about a protest to me or anyone else that is a part of a marginalized group. Do not part you crusty lips and say that dissent is unpatriotic. Most of your ancestors rid Boston Harbour of the good Earl Grey because they didn’t want to pay taxes. As well as a war. Now, if people want to shake their ass rent’s due and overall having a good time flaunting their queer selves in front of a man who has no problem putting them in conversion camps, you just gonna have to stay mad. If people want to block traffic because they are tired of seeing the bodies that they identify with pile up with no repercussions to the ones that kill them, you can just stay mad. If people want to show Cheeto Gaddafi how to fill a gallery, bitch we will. And if you don’t like it

Insisting we need to be respectful

Birtherism. “Inner cities”. Insulting John Lewis. Insulting Meryl Streep. Clinton. Not to mention his personal attacks on all of his opponents. Praising Putin. Being a pathological liar. Birtherism again. Because I Cheeto Gaddafi spent eight fucking years questioning if this man was born in this country because he had the nerve to be president. Then when he actually ran for office, through insults and twitter storms, he stirred up a base of online trolls and undercover bigots, who trudged out to the polls to make America ridiculous again and that’s fine. But I am actually going to take a page out of 45’s book and question his very legitimacy of daring to occupy the highest office of the land. So to recap: will I be respectful?

What would MLK…

Let me just stop you right there. You wanna know WHY none of us know what MLK would say now? It’s because he’s dead. And I don’t know the MLK you heard of but the one I know would straight be like “Nah, fam” and curse white moderates and their POC compatriots (I point out white moderates because MLK did so here). So I don’t know what MLK would say or do, but I know that because of him we came very far and I’m not fucking going back. Also, not everyone is MLK in the movement. And at the rate that this country is going, they are creating more Malcolms than Martins.

America just had eight years of relatively no scandal. And I have heard so many people say that President Barack Hussein Obama is the worst president when a simple Google search tells anyone that isn’t the case. And since I know that Cheeto Gaddafi can’t go a week without not being in the spotlight, good luck with that.