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–
Yzalú & Eduardo
While
the leather whip cut the skin
The
metabolized pain made us stronger within
The
colony produced much more than captives
It
made heroines who, to not breed slaves, killed their offspring
We
weren’t defeated by social invalidation
We
survived being invisible in films and television
The
system may even turn me into a servant
But
it can’t make me think I should be subservient
While
conventional women fight against sexism
Black
women struggle to beat sexism, prejudice, racism
They
fight to reverse the process of annihilation
That
incarcerates colored people in cubicles in prison
There
ain’t no #metoo movement to protect us
From
the violence of submitting ourselves to scrubbing toilets
From
reading in the bathrooms of the ivory tower
Get
out, niggers! Yeah…
Through
whitening I’m not your typical beauty
But
in all fairness I’m the personification of energy
Slave
ships and nicknames given by the enslaver
Failed
in their mission to make me feel inferior
I’m
not the subaltern that power believes it has built
My
place is not in the calvaries of Brazil
If
one day I have to join drug dealers in the slum
It’s
because justice is blind, deaf, and dumb
Security
guard, you don’t need to be afraid,
I
know you’re following me, because of my looks, my braids
I
know that in your training to protect private beaches
They
taught you black women hide store products in their breeches
I
don’t want butter or shampoo in packets
I
want to stop the machine that gives me mops and buckets
To
make my people understand that it’s inadmissible
To
be content with scholarships for failing schools
I’m
tired of seeing my brothers and sisters in numbers
Of
single moms, inmates, and hookers
New
chains of steel don’t imprison my mind
They
don’t buy me and don’t make me show my behind
Black
women don’t get used to being called names
It
ain’t better to have straight hair, slender frames
Our
facial features are like letters in writing
That
keep alive the greatest crime of all time
Stand
up for those who were thrown in the sea
For
the bodies that were fleshed in the pillories
Don’t
let them make you think that our national duty
Is
to attract gringo tourists by shaking our booties
They
can pay us less for the very same services
Attack
our religions, call us devil worshipers
Belittle
our Afro-Brazilian cultural contribution
But
they can’t remove the pride of our black skin
Black
women are like Kevlar blankets
Prepared
by life to withstand
Sexism,
gunshots, Eurocentrism
They
hurt but don’t hold our neurons captive
[Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQRJfD5PTnI]
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