they say her story’s illustrated in her hands

and to the labor of a woman owes the land

‘cause only by her will the planet earns the strength

to orbit sunshine yearly and to dream at length

 

she is the vessel holding life and anchored strong

that from the depths of every strife she carries on

she teaches sun faith in the dusk and hope at dawn

turning the pain into notes of her joyful song

 

how does the saying go, she is therefore i am

because she did, we do, and she could, so we can 

and though a throne she does deserve is seldom granted

there is no match for matriarchs, a force unbranded 

 

this for the sister, mama, auntie, nana – yes, she holds it down

greet you with fist up in her armor bronze to match the golden crown

this for the one that sees us through and never lets us hit the ground

but when we fall, she shows us bruises teach our power to rebound

 

this for the unappreciated voice that sings behind the sound

the underestimated soldier that loves the hardest pound for pound 

this for the rose that grew from concrete like a hidden diamond found 

the flower pushing from its feet despite the rain to rise up proud 

and so repeat, it’s as the saying goes, she is therefore i am

those in the back: because she did, we do, and she could, so we can 

and though her name ain’t always raised in praise, her worth can’t be dismantled 

a woman’s legacy lives on in all that’s good and named a miracle. 

an asian cop was an accomplice in george floyd's murder.

an asian cop named tou thao "stood guard" as his white partner pressed an unrelenting knee onto george's neck. the asian cop "stood guard" to make sure his white partner could commit murder without disturbance. the asian cop "stood guard" to protect a system that pimps him, that pimps the gullibility of asian people who believe that they will climb into a seat next to master if they stomp on the backs of black people.

tou thao, like so many asians, is an active accomplice to white supremacy. asians have long taken advantage of proximity to whiteness to be silent about and participants in anti-black racism. asians have long pandered to tropes that convince master that "we'll be quiet, dutiful, and obedient", claiming neutrality, defending myths of meritocracy, and voting against ourselves and against black people whose struggles, movements, and fight for freedom are the reason our living and faring here are even possible.

indeed, asians are not a monolith, but all asians benefit from white supremacy at the expense of black people and until we collectively understand that the master's house was never built for us, that the delusion of being placed on a pedestal at the foot of the white man is a teacher's pet ploy to keep us sedated, that our allegiance to neutrality is fatality, and that our conscious silence is violence, we will continue to duplicate and perpetuate a system that kills black parents and children.

if you're an asian who has cried out against racially-driven attacks against us since covid-19, but has not decried the modern lynching of black lives, you have blood on your hands. if you're an asian who claims that asian people who raise their voices against anti-black racism don't care as much about "our own struggles", you are standing guard for a system which enforces the absence of accountability, denies the relativity of anti-black racism, and erases the nuances of historical, generational, and structural functions of white supremacy across different communities of color.

if you're asian and want to grasp our duty to undo anti-blackness, let's get to it. otherwise, don't @ me.