Enough

The religious 
called us Jezebelles 
and said in fear 
we were power-hungry,
violent,
and whorish, 
while we looked down 
at them from our thrones 
and podiums. 

Our white fathers 
called us their property
while our shackled 
mothers leered
at the ground 
as our pubescent bodies 
were auctioned off 
to the highest bidder. 

Our colonizers
called us savages,
uncivilized,
and redskins
while they misidentified 
us as Indians
and forced 
us off our territories,
sexually enslaved 
our bodies,
and erased our cultures 
and languages. 

They called us witches 
for rejecting Puritan ideologies 
before they watched 
our bodies kick and squirm
as piss ran down our legs, 
and we fought for our last breath.

They called us loose,
unsexed, and mannish
during the suffrage movement
because we dared to fight 
for the right to vote.

They screamed 
wet backs and beaners
from their shiny Cadillacs
as we played in fruit trees
while our families 
worked in orchards 
and lived in tin house campos
during the Bracero Program.

They called us crazy 
and unstable 
as they drugged 
and lobotomized 
us in hospitals 
because we dared 
to disobey our husbands 
and fathers
when we wanted 
something more for ourselves.

They called us too ambitious 
when we broke barriers, 
but we got our degrees 
and became 
Doctors, 
Professors, 
Scientists, 
Mathematicians, 
Engineers, 
CEOs, 
CFOs, 
COOs,
Mayor, 
Governors,
Senators, 
Congresswomen,
Justices,
Vice Presidents,
and Presidents. 

But they still call us suspicious 
when we shop 
in the malls of Amerikkka.

They still scream
white power and  
go back to your country, terrorist
when we wear our hijabs,
turbans, or thawbs.

They still call us liars 
and doubt us
or say we consent
when we tell them over 
and over 
and over 
and over again 
he raped us. 

He raped me!

They still think they’re writing odes 
to their partners when they rap 
about their Perfect Bitch
chickenheads and hoes.

We’re still too radical,
immoral,
and murders 
if we want autonomy 
over our own bodies
even though it’s none of their business,
and our right to choose.
It’s over one hundred 
and eighty years later,
and they still call us men
when we don’t fit their molds 
or have the wrong chromosomes
or defy their definition of a woman. 

But we empower them
with our ignorant, hateful comments. 
We see it splattered all 
over our platforms.

We call other people’s children
weird, 
stupid,
or weak.
We choose to be willfully ignorant 
and fear colored children 
as criminals,
classless,
or ghetto,
drug dealers. 

We envy and don’t understand each other,
so we shame instead of up-lift. 
We project our insecurities,
and call each other 
ugly, 
fat, 
too skinny,
too old, 
poor, 
Your nose is too big, 
and your skin is blotchy, 
or your eyes are crossed, 
and teeth are crooked, 
or missing. 

If you’re not with us,
you’re against us.
You should just disappear 
or kill yourself!			

Enough!

When we label each other 
and each other’s children, 
we grant men, 
and everyone else, 
permission to do the same.

We are more than 
their echo chambers.
Aspire beyond 
what you’ve been conditioned 
to accept. 	

Names are what they called us 
when we refused 
or be oppressed 
or assimilate
and defied 
their boundaries. 

Remember, you are more 
than the worst stereotype 
they made you believe 
about yourself.