Dear white people  – Makhadzi Mudzweda

Dear white people:
I don’t even know where to start
In between my busy schedule comprised entirely of surviving white America
There is simply no time to write letters
Besides any letter I write will most likely bring tears to your very eyes and I for one have had my fill of white tears
There are days I think you are not worth my ink, that your whiteness is draining me of too much energy
   Can’t give you a taste of tea for fear you’ll  colonize the whole kitchen
But today I am too angry to remain silent

Dear white people:
Stop making everything about you and how uncomfortable you are
I honestly don’t care about your comfort level
You have made my very existence and exercise in discomfort
It is time for you to make room at the table
-Better yet go sit in the living room
I am not here to cuddle your feelings-
   not here for your amusement
NO you cannot touch my hair
-its not a petting zoo
And stop coming into my office asking for the managers if you are not already looking at one

Dear white people:
Dear white people-
Stop telling me about this “COLOUR BLIND SOCIETY”
-you allegedly live in
-telling me you don’t see race is the racist drivel I hope you choke on
-Telling me you respect me, but don’t see my colour
Is like saying you have to pretend that “I AM NOT BLACK”
In order to respect me
   But let me assure you
I AM BLACK ……though there are plenty of things I AM NOT
Like your sassy black friend
 Stop saying “hey girl!”
When you see me
You aren’t that slick
I hear the way you talk to Becky and Steve everyday
   You sound like vocation on Martha’s Vineyard … where you spent summers waiting in the bitter blue of the Atlantic
How I wish my toes could touch the ocean without stepping on the bones of ancestors

Dear white teachers
Why don’t I know whom my ancestors are
Why is only one part of my history important enough to teach
And for the love of the Creator
Stop swivelling your heads every time slavery is mentioned
… Newsflash, I was not there
And just because I am the only black person in this class
Does not mean you can ask me to speak on behalf of my race
I believe you really care about the opinion of black students when stop shutting down conversations because I call a white student racist

Dear white people:
Why do you hate being called racist more than you hate racism
Why do you listen to Tim Wise over actual black people about the actual black experience
_Dear white people:
Stop using black on black crimes as a reason we should not be outrage  by the murder of black people by apartheid system
If a black person kills a black person
   they will go to jail
AND THAT IS WHAT WE CALL JUSTICE
When the apartheid kills a black person,,, they will get paid leave
AND THAT IS WHAT WE CALL JUSTICE
Apparently JUSTICE is when a black body dies

Dear white people:
Everytime we write white
We have written it in lowercase letters
   because we are tired of you capitalising on our pain 
         . We are angry
         . And raw
         . And tired
         . And angry
         . And raw 
         . And tired 
         . And tired
         . And tired
But we will not rest because we know the future belongs to those who prepare for it 

…..And you have been getting us ready for centuries