By Button Poetry
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Summer Durant, performing at CAMP Bar in Saint Paul, MN.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:05
so we got it we did a bad thing
00:09
we killed millions of people permanently
00:12
altered the trajectory of their lineage
00:13
exploited their bodies to the fullest
00:15
extent of survival dampened their minds
00:17
and stifled their capacities we stole
00:20
generations of innovation and joy and
00:23
creativity we stole life literal life
00:26
but what can we do about it now what
00:29
we’ll fix it now what can you stop
00:31
talking about it now it’s like over like
00:34
so last season or century or whatever I
00:37
mean like you do have a solution to this
00:39
problem we created right so like go
00:42
ahead and waiting what exactly do
00:46
reparations look like well reparations
00:51
look like me going on several dates with
00:53
white men and ordering the most
00:54
expensive thing on the menu while
00:56
simultaneously grilling them on black
00:59
history facts in maintaining
01:00
uncomfortably intense eye contact
01:02
reparations look like reading I Know Why
01:04
the Caged Bird Sings while humming a
01:06
change is gonna come
01:07
and feeding dog food to the Trump
01:09
supporter chained in my basement
01:10
reparations look like swerving every
01:12
fiscally conservative Republican who
01:14
deems me even if he says he’s the same
01:16
party as Lincoln especially if he says
01:19
he’s the same party as Lincoln
01:20
reparations look like going to happy
01:23
hour with the white woman who has a PETA
01:24
sticker slightly overlapping the
01:26
Confederate flag bumper sticker on her
01:28
car and leaving her with the 300 dollar
01:30
bill reparations look like never
01:32
laughing at your jokes like saying every
01:35
dish you make is tasteless even if I saw
01:37
you put the whole damn spice back in it
01:39
they look like calling you on your
01:41
and clapping while I do it
01:43
reparations look like permanently
01:46
altering the trajectory of the lives of
01:48
millions of people of their lineage they
01:51
look like fostering their minds and
01:52
expanding their capacities they look
01:54
like generations of innovation and joy
01:56
and creativity reparations look like you
01:59
making some type of effort beyond asking
02:02
me to abracadabra you an easy solution
02:04
they look like the answer you have
02:06
always been afraid of they look like a
02:08
cross perpetually burning on your front
02:10
lawn for every dollar your ancestors
02:12
made from my ancestors screens
02:14
reparations look like you
02:16
holding your breath for the last three
02:17
minutes like the uncomfortable silence
02:19
that will likely follow this poem they
02:21
look like all of the words you hoped I
02:23
would never learn to read they look like
02:25
a block party in a gated neighborhood
02:27
with perpetually burning crosses as far
02:30
as the eye can see and a deflated moon
02:32
bounce and tasteless potato salad that I
02:34
saw you dumped the whole damn spice rack
02:37
into vibrations look like me still
02:39
standing in the wake of your destruction
02:41
look like not having to answer this
02:43
question just because it conveniences
02:45
you reparations look like the least you
02:47
can do it look like the least you can do
02:51
[Music]
02:51
[Applause]
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
