Traveler

April • Yellow

The world always knows the dichotomy,

white, black,

oppressor, oppressed,

good, evil,

male, female,

hetero, homo.

But what about us?

Those who are in the middle,

forgotten, ignored.

Those

with a splash of yellow.

They say: "Oh, you have fairer skin,

you are not oppressed."

But did you forget,

the bloody trail of manifest destiny,

Chinese Exclusion Act,

Japanese internment camps?

They say: "Oh, you are doing well,

this is not urgent."

Do you mean affirmative action

in college applications?

Do you mean performing

great in academics because

"that is in our blood"?

Do you mean the one-sided portrayal

of Asian countries in media?

Do you mean those casual racial slurs

that you say "it's not a big deal"?

Do you mean the stereotypical

support in movies that serves

as a laughing stock,

that's just there for "diversity",

or not even there at all?

Where is our hero, our representation

that brush of yellow

in the dullish background

black and white so hollow?

April . 2018