By Button Poetry
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RJ Wright, performing at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
Everyone thinks superwoman is this amazing person,
00:06
and she is, she is, she is… now.
00:09
You didn’t see her when she was a temper-tantrum-tossing toddler.
00:11
When most children scream,
00:13
you might, just might, figuratively state that the sound is deafening.
00:15
However, she was actually superwoman, so the sound was, literally, deafening.
00:19
I would try to be strict, I would try grounding,
00:22
but have you ever tried to ground a black woman that can fly?
00:25
Never quite works out how you think it’s going to.
00:27
Her teachers would tell me that she has “ADHD”, or attitude issues,
00:30
but I figured, she was just a bored braniac
00:32
and they feared a mind that they could not standardize.
00:35
The media keeps trying to meteor shower her self-esteem from a Phantom Zone away.
00:38
They tell her she has no more to offer the world
00:40
than the way that she fills out a brightly colored pair of tights,
00:43
so I had to sit her down and explain that, darling,
00:45
you crash landed on a broken world.
00:47
When your skin is powered by the sun and your hair defies gravity,
00:51
you are more than most mortals can comprehend.
00:53
Raising children of color has always felt like raising superheroes.
00:56
As a black man, you must be twice as good to get half as much.
00:59
As a black woman, you must be adjacent to perfect.
01:00
You must smile, you must never raise your voice.
01:03
They will stereotype the supersonic in it, bitter and black, at best.
01:05
At worst, resisting arrest.
01:06
Society is full of supervillains that only mask their words.
01:09
Examples include, if she didn’t want to die,
01:11
why didn’t she just keep her mouth shut?
01:14
If she wasn’t looking for sex, then why was she drinking?
01:16
Why was she out so late? Why was her skirt so short?
01:18
If black women are so magical,
01:20
why are they always complaining about disappearing?
01:24
In a perfect world, I would have sons that I teach not to be villains.
01:29
But in this one, I fear I will have daughters
01:31
that I must teach to not be damsels,
01:32
but to leap over distress in a single bound.
01:34
I will erect a Justice League to protect my daughters,
01:36
make this whole DC Universe marvel at the way I turn Avenger,
01:39
Hulk-smash anything that threatens my children.
01:42
When raising a woman of steel, you must be an Iron Man.
01:44
They will use you for incantations and spells to stifle her strength.
01:47
You know, you pretty for a black girl.
01:49
You well-spoken for a black girl.
01:50
You insert stereotype for a black girl.
01:52
You think black girl magic is powerful, you should see the rabbits
01:56
that white supremacy and systematic oppression
01:58
can pull out of a hat.
01:59
Willie Lynch was a wizarding wonder,
02:00
taught us to keep the body strong, and the mind weak.
02:03
Keep telling her she’s exotic, reminds her she’s alien.
02:05
Remind her she’s only beautiful when mixed with other.
02:07
I know nothing of being a woman,
02:09
so I’ll surround her with a village full of Amazons.
02:11
They’ll teach her the art of warfare and womanhood.
02:13
She’ll stand on the shoulders of every Wonderwoman
02:15
that’s ever come before her,
02:16
ready to save a world that keeps tugging at her cape.
02:19
She’s just as much God as any boy who thinks himself a deity.
02:23
And she ain’t gotta share the name super with any man.
02:25
(audience cheering and clapping)
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This post was previously published on YouTube and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video