A Math Lesson

Lesson number one:

When you multiply two positives, the outcome is positive.

When you multiply two negatives, the outcome is still positive.

Now, applying lesson number one in example number one:

negative one times negative one equals positive one.

Example number two:

woman times brown skin equals

...error in calculation.

 

Going through the minds of every girl across the globe

as often as counting numbers is the question:

Is being a woman a positive or a negative?

Going through the minds of every person who sees their skin

as nothing lighter than the useless crayons that are too dark to be seen is the question:

is being brown a positive or negative?

 

Let’s solve this.

 

According to the theorem of Rape Culture, it is a woman’s fault if she is sexually harassed.

The proof?

Clearly shown here via facebook comments blaming the victim on how short her dress was

or how much she had to drink

or how late she was staying out.

According to the theorem of Donald Trump, brown people are rapists and thieves who steal jobs from Americans.

With our evidence, we can now conclude that

woman times brown skin equals

...error in calculation?

 

Being a woman means screw you and your patriarchy.

I can be as classy as the black strappy heels you hear across the cobblestone floor

yet as dangerous as the heels on your bleeding throat.

Being a woman means being the odds

when everything in the world

is in evens.

 

Having brown skin means screw you because my melanin radiates

in the brightest and darkest of days.

My skin tells you my culture

and the people that worked through hell and back to get to where we are now.

My brown identity reflects all real numbers and issues that we face in society.

 

How can one thing be a positive and a negative at the same time?

 

How can my gender identity and the color of my skin put me in so much danger

yet give me so much strength?

 

I will prove to you what being a woman

and being brown means

from the day I am born

to the day I die.

 

I will prove to you that who I am will leave your jaw to drop

to the bottom of the ocean floor

because I can

and will continue

to defy your standards.

 

To complete lesson number one:

woman times brown skin

equals infinity.

 

I am limitless and

I am infinite.

This poem is about: 
Me
My family
My community
My country
Our world

Comments

Cassady.Davis

So much yes in one poem. I love this.

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