when asked why Black people can’t be racist
by MATTHEW E. HENRY
because words have meaning that don’t change
based on how they turn your stomach. because,
despite the inequity of the fledgling guilt you feel,
our loses are never the same. because racism
is a rigged game of Monopoly where you’re both
the race car and the top hat. and you begin
with your $1500 dividend doubled. and the banker
is your doting grandmother, who has already co-signed
all your deeds and developments and set aside an extra
$400 for whenever you pass GO. and Reading Railroad
is pronounced however the fuck you want it to be
though it was built by other hands. and control
over the utilities was assured by your third trip
around the board. and every day is a tax holiday
but only for you. and when you hand the dice
to the thimble, you fail to notice how every Chance
card contains a fine. how the Community Chest
is always closed. how I receive a citation for loitering
on Free Parking and 40 lashes just visiting jail.
how my rent triples regardless the number of homes
or hotels you may have. and when, through hard work,
scheming or accidental blessing, I find myself
in possession of Park Place, the doorman still asks to see
my ID, calls the police (which you also own). so if,
in frustration I deny you service at my singular hotel,
sully your white walls and stiff brim with mud, or
sweep the board with a righteous right hand, cursing
the whiteness of money bags, bubble-letters, and you,
it may not be comfortable, but it’s not “racism.”
by MATTHEW E. HENRY
because words have meaning that don’t change
based on how they turn your stomach. because,
despite the inequity of the fledgling guilt you feel,
our loses are never the same. because racism
is a rigged game of Monopoly where you’re both
the race car and the top hat. and you begin
with your $1500 dividend doubled. and the banker
is your doting grandmother, who has already co-signed
all your deeds and developments and set aside an extra
$400 for whenever you pass GO. and Reading Railroad
is pronounced however the fuck you want it to be
though it was built by other hands. and control
over the utilities was assured by your third trip
around the board. and every day is a tax holiday
but only for you. and when you hand the dice
to the thimble, you fail to notice how every Chance
card contains a fine. how the Community Chest
is always closed. how I receive a citation for loitering
on Free Parking and 40 lashes just visiting jail.
how my rent triples regardless the number of homes
or hotels you may have. and when, through hard work,
scheming or accidental blessing, I find myself
in possession of Park Place, the doorman still asks to see
my ID, calls the police (which you also own). so if,
in frustration I deny you service at my singular hotel,
sully your white walls and stiff brim with mud, or
sweep the board with a righteous right hand, cursing
the whiteness of money bags, bubble-letters, and you,
it may not be comfortable, but it’s not “racism.”
MEH is Matthew E. Henry, the author of Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020) and editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal. His recent works are appearing or forthcoming in The Baltimore Review, Bryant Literary Review, The New Verse News, Ninth Letter, Ploughshares, Poemeleon, Porcupine Literary, The Radical Teacher, Rejection Lit, The Revolution (Relaunch), Solstice, and Versification. MEH is an educator who received his MFA from Seattle Pacific University, yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. His work can be found on MEHPoeting.com.