Ultimate minority

Thu, 05/10/2018 - 11:18 -- rhysand

I am the ultimate minority.

Both of my parents are immigrant

I’m black and Mexican,

And I’m pansexual and genderfluid.

It’s an odd and glorious existence.

I am unabashedly proud of who I am

But sometimes being who I am makes me the punch line of every joke

The racist jokes

The anti-immigrant jokes

The homophobic jokes

The transphobic jokes.

Sometime it seems like it will never end

Because society has deemed it acceptable

To mock who a person is

And God forbid you get offended.

God forbid you are a living breathing person with  feelings capable of getting hurt

God forbid you take offense to people attacking

Your race

Your culture

Your sexuality

Your gender

Because maybe just maybe being insulted is something to take offense to.

But maybe I just shouldn’t care

 

But whenever I hear a racist joke

It's like I'm nine years old again

Pushed down on the hard cold ground

Being told that it doesn't matter if our

President is black

I am still worthless

Because of the color of my skin.

But I guess I shouldn't be so emotional

I shouldn't take offense

And maybe if it was just racist jokes

I could deal with it forever

But it doesn't end there.

 

For some reason people think it's okay

To make jokes about deportation.

I remember this guy was telling me about a comedian

Who thought it would be funny to offer illegal immigrants a job

Only to dump them at a deportation office.

For people's amusement.

And as they told me this,

All I could think about was when my uncle who almost got deported.

Hearing the piercing shriek of the doorbell ring throughout my house in the middle of the night.

As his family was at our door afraid of what might happen to their loved one.

I remember,

His wife being afraid of losing her husband.

And his children being afraid of losing their father.

But no I shouldn't get offended or emotional

And maybe if it was just deportation jokes

I could deal with it forever

But it doesn't end there.

 

It took me along time to accept my sexuality

After years of self hate

I learned to love who I am

But the world as only learned to mock who I am

And I want to react but i can’t

Because any reaction is an overreaction

So every time someone jokes about me

Wanting to have sex with pans because I'm pansexual

I just think

Wow

Super original

And maybe if it was just the jokes about my sexuality

I could deal with it forever

But it doesn't end there.

 

I am genderfluid.

It’s pretty self explanatory

My gender is fluid

Whenever I tell people

They love to joke around and say

They identify as an attack plane helicopter.

Funny joke

I guess

If your gender identity isn’t important to you

But those jokes take away the joy I had when I first discovered my gender.

The happiness that disappears

As they laugh and laugh

And maybe if it was just jokes about my gender

I could deal with it forever

But it never ends there.

Because by virtue of who I am

The world has made me a joke.

 

This poem is about: 
Me

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