White Girl

wrote for a class - please keep and open mind

I,

am white.

No, I'm sure you didn't hear me I am white

with my Irish-Polish-German blood

I have lived in the suburbs my entire life and survived a school

system where the greatest difference between skin

is pale, beige and porcelain.

 

I burn my hands lifting roping and chasing

but real women look at my calluses, grin and chuckle saying,

"damn girl, that's just hard skin."

 

My parents pay for my food, clothes and electirc

but that doesn't stop me from stamping my foot and demanding to

have more freedom

have more space

when some parents don't even bother to talk face to face

with their children

in their eyes, kis are just a burden.

 

If a big black man with

big black hands approches me when I'm alone on the street

I can promise my heart won't be

pumping in excitment, I'll corss the street, keep my eyes down

I curse myself for the guilt.

 

My neighbor next door in an Indian, respectful friendly with children

but I don't even know his name

and if a fire came to claim

my carpets, floors and roof I can promise you that

my feet won't be flying to seek help on their stoop.

 

And what is this divide that lies between me and them,

them and us and allows my parents to nod in a agreement

when my cousin uses politics to make excuses for her racist treatments?

Who the hell am I to claim to know the difference

bewteen white and black when there

are so many other shades that I never see,

shades that are lacking and prove to me to be

so much more than a white girl who was rasied believeing

that colored peopel are free

 

I am a white girl who was rasied knowing that I 

am free, and that is the difference between them and me, 

because while I pity their plight and want to 

abandon my rights, but

I will not claim to be noble enough to forever

give up my color-

 

one week or one month of living under the cover

of a sympathizer and I am done

Finished

OVER!

 

And knowing this, admitting this proves

that I am just a little white girl

with so much and not enough to lose. 

 

Author's Note

honesty please!

Reviews

[jazz]

wow. i felt that this was excellent. it was honest and provided a perspective on the clashes of race (or lackthereof in your case) in a very unique, often unrecognized way. there are a few parts that can be trimmed down a bit in my opinion and the scene with the "big black man" could be made more concrete, but overall this was above awesome.

And what is this divide that lies between me and them,
them and us and allows my parents to nod in a agreement
when my cousin uses politics to make excuses for her racist treatments?
I am a white girl who was rasied knowing that I

am free, and that is the difference between them and me,
because while I pity their plight and want to
abandon my rights, but
I will not claim to be noble enough to forever
give up my color-

very powerful stuff here

[Barbara Walker]

This poem honestly states your feelings, your fear, your confusion,your disgust at your cousin's racism and your parents agreement with it, your truth to yourself and the world that you know enough not to give up that white skin, both because you like your skin and because you don't want to take on the burden that you know comes with any other color. I really like the line, "who the hell am I to claim to know the difference between white and black when there are so many other shades I never see..." but I find the line after that confusing, enigmatic. Are the shades lacking or are they more? With a little editing, I think this could be a great poem! Barbara