Poet Has The Perfect Clapback For People Who Stereotype Chicanas

My Chicana sounds like mami, sounds like girl, you talk too fast, you must be running from something. Is it is it la migra'Sounds like, Say lil mama, could you call me papi tonight'Thats how poet Cristina Martinez begins her powerful spoken word poem Chicana, which was shared on Write About Now PoetryAug. 16.Throughout her performance, Martinez calls out peoplenamely men ' who reduce her to hyper-sexualized stereotypes, breathlessly recounting the things shes heard them say about Mexicans and Mexican-American women.[I] overheard a conversation between two adult males, the question was, what do you call a man who cant handle a Latina, a Chicana or anybody brown for that matter' His answer: weak. As if Im something that needs to be dealt with, she recites.As if all I have been bred to embody is disaster. As if all my culture can offer you is a frozen buzz with salt, sometimes sugar, around the rim and a headache thereafter, brain-freeze.The talented poet goes on to explain how, in her experience, some of the same people who fetishize Chicanas and indulge in their culture also reject their relatives ' much like they rejected her father.Martinez let it be known in her poem that she wont stand for it. She concludes her performance with a powerful, emotionally charged message:[My father] works harder than any man I ever met, so forgive me forgive me mami when I do not submit to a man who only half-ass does half the shit my father, my father has proven to me that Im worthy of. type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Other stories that you might like... + articlesList=576a99a0e4b0c0252e77c95a,565c926ae4b079b2818b111e,56ae40f3e4b0010e80ea72b5,573f62d6e4b0613b512a464a -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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