I remember seeing them perform this live on my campus.. My jaw dropped within 10 seconds.
Captions for this video below since they talk really fast and can be hard to understand! I struggled myself a bit, so let me know if I messed up on anything!
A black man and a white woman take the stage together to perform a slam poem.
Both speak together in unison for the first few words, before the black man begins feigning shock, as though he suddenly lost the ability to speak, though he continues mouthing along as she speaks. The poem begins:
“The first day I realized I was black. It was 2000. We had just learned about blacks for the first time in second grade. At recess, all the white kids chased me into the woods, chanting ‘slave.’ My mother said I refused to come out for three hours. She said she thinks I was lost in the trees, but I just needed to be closer to my roots.”
Both begin speaking in unison for a few words again, before this time, the white woman feigns loss of speech, but continues mouthing along just as the black man did before. He continues speaking:
“As a woman, having a boyfriend is a battle. If 70% of us are abused in a lifetime, what is the number of men doing it? The answer is not one man, running faster than light to complete a mission, and that is what leaves me sick.”
Again, the white woman begins speaking as the black man mouths along.
“The second day I realized I was black was in a gas station. I only had twenty five cents, so I searched for what to spend it on. The cashier floated from isle to isle, eyes fixed on my hands.”
The black man begins speaking again, and they continue in unison.
“That was the first time I realized skin color was a crime.”
Now the black man continues speaking as the white woman mouths along with him again.
“My body has become cause to write legislation. Cause for ass smacks in the back of a class. My body has demanded everything except respect. I’ve been asked, ‘what makes you feel unsafe?’ And I struggle not to yell ‘everything!’”
They switch again, so the white woman is now speaking as the black man mouths along.
“The third time I realized I was black was in an all white cafeteria. I gathered my legs under me, made rockets of my feet, and approached a girl. She told me she was not into ‘my type of guy.’ I felt the words shoot daggers into my melanin. I have never wanted to disappear so bad.”
They switch so the black man is speaking and the white woman is mouthing along.
“As a woman, I’ve learned to answer to everything except my name. ‘Little lady’ is not said to mean ‘equal,’ but to make sure I remember my place. I battle between wanting to own my body, and accepting there is a one-in-four chance a man will lay claim to my skin, a plot of land for the taking.”
Now the white woman speaks as the black man mouths along.
“The last day I realized I was black was in an elevator in California. To the white woman that told me she knows what it feels like to be black because she grew up poor:”
They speak now in unison.
“I would tell you to think before you speak.”
The black man begins mouthing along again.
“But your mind has got to be bacteria infected. And any filter through that labyrinth of nothingness might be worse than no thought at all.”
Now he speaks as she mouths.
“There’s a group of women going around the room, sharing their personal definition of feminism. He is the only man in the room, and all of a sudden, the tone switches to destroying the patriarchy by annihilating all men.”
She speaks now as he mouths.
“Do you know what it feels like to be black? To pop lock your way in and out of hugs? It is not a problem you want to sympathize.”
They speak in unison.
“But to tell me that you know my pain is-”
He falls silent again and mouths along as she continues speaking.
“-to stab yourself in the leg because you saw me get shot. We have two different wounds, and looking at yours does nothing to heal mine.”
She now mouths along as he speaks.
“Never will I turn away an ally.”
She speaks.
“But when a man speaks on my behalf, it only proves my point!”
He speaks.
“Movements are driven by passion, not by asserting yourself dominant by a world that already puts you there.”
They speak in unison.
“You speak to know pain that you only fathom because we told you it was there. You know nothing of silence until someone who cannot know your pain tells you how to fix it.”
They continue to speak in unison, but now slowly back away from the microphones with their arms held straight out to their sides, parallel to the ground, to mimic the pose of Jesus on the cross, in order to highlight the next line.
“Every day is a crucification. But there is no regards for lives crossed.”
They now quickly swap places and return to the microphones. This is symbolic of them switching places to speak for themselves and not each other. The white woman begins speaking alone.
“I fight so my voice can be heard. I fight for the voices you silence, all in the name of what is right.”
They speak in unison for a few words before he speaks alone as she mouths along again.
“The problem is, you assume the struggles attached to a social class. I am black, and bold, and beautiful by nature. Ain’t no income that can change that.”
She begins the next sentence alone.
“The problem with speaking up for each other-”
He speaks alone.
“is that everyone is left-”
They speak in unison.
“without a voice.”
This is the end of the poem. The audience cheers as the Button Poetry logo appears on the screen, followed by the logo for the “Association of College Unions International.”
> literally just common physical traits among women of colour
you can’t separate transmisogyny from racism. the radical feminism movement is so overwhelmingly white because their idea of what a woman is is so thoroughly steeped in white supremacy.
what you said was very sweet and means a lot to me but i am incapable of properly responding in any way besides “thank you so much aaaah” because i do not know how to accurately express the exact level of my gratitude to where you completely understand how much what you said meant to me without me getting even more emotional and looking like a fucking nerd: an autobiography
… You melted the top METAL covering of your stove. The heat was so intense at one point it catapulted the lid to that poor pot into the Sheetrock of your fucking kitchen are you kidding me?????
But how do you fuck up that badly
I just started laughing and like crying and even WITH the Sheetrock comment I still didn’t catch that the lid was IN THE FUCKING CEILING until The Beardy Ginger pointed it out.
HEY! YOU! STOP SCROLLING FOR ONE FUCKING SECOND AND LEMME TELL Y’ALL ABOUT THE MIRACLE THAT IS KNOWN AS AFRICAN BLACKSOAP.
YOU SEE, ONCE UPON A TIME, I HAD THE WORST ACNE IN THE FUCKIN WORLD. LIKE, IT WAS LITERALLY PAINFUL. I SHIT YOU NOT,I WAS LITERALLY MORE ACNE THAN ACTUAL FACE. I HAD BOUGHT ALL THE FUCKIN 80$+ ACNE KITS, YOU KNOW THE ONES. YOU SEE EM’ ADVERTISED IN INFOMERCIALS ALL THE GODDAMN TIME BY FOLKS WHO HAVE NEVER HAD ACNE A DAY IN THEIR GODDAMN LIFE. WELL, NONE OF THEM WERE HELPING. AT ALL.
I WAS JUST BEGINNING TO ACCEPT THAT I WAS DOOMED TO BE PIZZA FACE UNTIL MY 30’S WHEN I WAS INTRODUCED TO THIS MIRACLE PRODUCT BY THIS HIPPIE-ASS FUCKER I KNEW. SHE CLAIMED THAT IF I USED IT IN PLACE OF FACE WASH, IT WOULD CLEAR ME RIGHT UP, NO SHIT. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WAS MORE THAN A BIT SKEPTICAL. AFTER ALL, WE HAD SPENT LITERALLY HUNDREDS ON MIRACLE ACNE REMEDIES THAT DIDN’T FUCKING WORK, SO WHY THE FUCK WOULD THIS SHIT? IT WASN’T EVEN FUCKING MEDICATED! BUT I FIGURED I HAD NOTHING TO LOSE, SO I WENT FOR IT.
WELL, LEMME TELL Y’ALL. I WAS WRONG. SO FUCKING WRONG.
WITHIN A WEEK, HALF OF MY ACNE WAS GONE. WITHIN THREE, I HAD THE CLEAREST SKIN I’D HAD SINCE I WAS A YOUNG CHILD.
PEOPLE NOW ASK ME ALL THE FUCKING TIME WHAT MY SECRET TO CLEAR SKIN IS, AND I TELL THEM ALL ABOUT THIS BEAUTIFUL SHIT. IT WORKS MIRACLES, AND IT DOESN’T FUCKING BURN YOUR EYES IF YOU GET IT WITHIN TWO INCHES OF THEM, UNLIKE TRADITIONAL ACNE CREAMS DO. AND THE BEST PART? IF YOU ARE LIKE ME AND HAVE SENSITIVE-ASS SKIN, AND/OR IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO A LOT OF THE SHIT OUT THERE, THIS STUFF IS ALL NATURAL, AND SUPER GENTLE. SERIOUSLY. I’M PRETTY SURE YOU COULD RUB THIS SHIT IN YOUR EYES IF YOU REALLY WANTED TO, BUT I HAVEN’T FELT INCLINED TO DO THAT.
WHAT’S THAT? YOU HAVE DANDRUFF AND NONE OF THOSE FANCY-ASS SPECIAL SHAMPOOS HAVE HELPED? WELL, YOU BEAUTIFUL FUCKER, YOU’RE IN LUCK, BECAUSE THIS SHIT CLEARS THAT UP TOO!
GOT PSORIASIS? ECZEMA? NO PROBLEM! NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS ARE ANY MATCH FOR THIS SHIT!
WHAT’S THAT? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU CAN BUY THIS MIRACLE SUBSTANCE? WELL, POP ON OVER HERE AND GO FORTH AND GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS WONDERFUL SHIT, YOU BEAUTIFUL FUCKER!
Okay, this actually works friends. Seriously, I’ve used it before and whoa.
My face! OoO!!!
I haven’t bought any recently, but I can say 100% that it works.
You had me at Hippie-ass fucker.
All the reviews say the same thing too
you guys can get it here too!! (in case you live outside the US, because shipping is a pain on this website otherwise)
1. His ex wife admitted that he forced her into sexual situations.
2. He wants to spend billions of dollars of our already dwindling budget to build a wall to stop Mexicans from coming into the country.
3. When asked hard hitting and relevant questions by a female he avoided them and went on to blame it on her period.
4. He gave out a senators private number out of spite.
5. If he can’t fix his hair how can we expect him to fix our economy?
6. He accused all immigrants of being rapists.
7. He believes immigrants stealing jobs is actually a thing.
8. He believes that sexual assault is to be expected when men and women are put together.
9. He’s disgusted by breast feeding.
10. He’s overall just a sexist, racist bully who uses his money in order to push people around.
I’m not even american but oh my god don’t let this scumbag be your fucking president
11. He wants to shut down all mosques, though he knows that it may be illegal
12. He wants to make all Muslims wear a badge and carry an ID that says that they’re Muslim
Remind you of anything?
Reblogging again for that^
13. He said that autistic children just need to be properly disciplined and that people suffering through depression and PTSD are acting as though they’re the first generation to struggle with these issues.
everyone needs to see this
14. He wanted to set up a “humane deportation force” That would rid America of Illegal immigrants.
Eerily enough, the Nazis had proposed a similar idea of wanting the Jews out of Europe; to set up a deportation force to exile the Jews from Europe. (source)
Wake up America.You are literally voting for the modern Adolf Hitler
15. He made fun of a NY Times reporter’s disability.
16. He said that if he would date Ivanka if she wasnt his daughter.
