This independent research poem is a collection of 9 different sources I found independently and curated into a poem. This can be considered a found poem, with some lines being directly cut and paste from different researched articles and essays, with the majority of the poem being my own words written around research sources.
Directly copied sentences and phrases have been highlighted in bold, all sources have been named and credited in the notes section.
Listen to the poem here:
Read the poem here:
Spoiler Alert /We're here to break binaries! - Erin James
Trigger Warnings: TRANSPHOBIA, RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM
Spoiler alert: The gender binary is a tool of white supremacy*1
It is a product of colonisation
It is a result of bordered nations
I’m not saying male or female didn’t exist before
Beaten backs and
Feet in mud or
Ancestral cracks and
Trickling blood
I’m saying there was so much more than just male or female
Fast forward a couple of hundred years and
We’re told this trans angst is the new thing to fear
That we should shift our gears
And act out of hate
It’s bait
This state is serving up its lies with pudding on a plate
Clearly, they are scared of the brilliance
The difference
Etherial omniscience
The emotional resilience
Undeniable magnificence
Of trans folks
They don’t know that trans people have always existed and always will
Now, transphobia is ripe in the air
And it stinks of the same strange fruit they’ve been trying to feed
Black and queer people for an eternity
The absurdity of thinking toleration is enough
And the modernity of saying “this is the new snowflake touch”
We’ve been told recognition of ones gender should be enough
But doesn’t it also take acceptance, love and allies speaking up
If trans folk have to be…
Diagnosed with dysphoria,
Go before a panel,
Be of a certain age,
Prove it's not a phase,
Cross borders for surgery,
Take on the weight of others' gaze,
Wait and wait on waiting lists,
Be overlooked and underpaid
How can recognition ever be enough in this nation?
We desperately need action but we also need education
So I will share some things I’ve found and let this poem be a roof
And underneath there lies a house holding together what is loose
But please make no mistake, I don’t use history as proof
For we do not need convince anyone of what is simply truth
We’ve heard of the scientific racism of measuring skulls that was used
The definition of racial purity was designed to abuse
Well, similar methods were made to define the binary and to confuse*1
To suggest that this gendered distinction was not for savages to misuse*2
They told people of colour they weren't worthy of fitting into their binary
But if some of us somehow had access to our ancestor's diaries
We’d know certain tribes and cultures didn’t see gender as rigid
It was not a solid thing, it flowed and changed and moved like liquid
Ask the Dagaaba people of Ghana, who base gender on energy over anatomy*1
Or other Western tribes who discard gender because whats important is personality*1
Look at the Igbo people of Nigeria, their language around pronouns is gender neutral*3
This country corrects Nigerians ‘bad grammar’ without understanding their words are truthful
The Dogon tribe of Mali worships ‘Nommo’ ancestral spirits, androgynous and mystical *4
They were referred to as ‘The Teachers’ so may they teach us this is more than mythical
It's not fictitious or trivial
Like the Mbuti of the Congo who wait till after puberty for gender to be visible*5
Imagine growing up with the choice to have a say, unconditional
This goes beyond Africa, there’s so much more we weren’t told
Our history was whitewashed, straightened, and sold
There are Two-Spirit folk who belong to Indigenous Native America *6
Their belief that all life is sacred meant they've always been accepted; this is not something irregular
India’s community of Hijras have held important roles for 2000 years*7
Traced to Hindu holy texts - their existence you cannot try to smear
In aboriginal Australia, you’ll find Sistagirls and Brothaboys *8
Trans folk could claim new names and through these names, maybe find joy
Magnus Hirshfeld; a Jewish german sexologist, offered the first gender-affirming surgeries regularly and more *9
From Tumtums to Saris, Judaism recognizes 8 genders at its core *9
Hitler termed Magnus ‘the most dangerous jew in Germany’ and burned every one of his books
Antisemitism and transphobia and interweaved, beyond this story, research and look
The far-right and colonising countries robbed us of our culture,
They almost stamped it out and swallowed it up like greedy vultures
We’ve been lied to our whole lives and conditioned to other our trans friends
Well it’s time to unlearn and re-educate, both in present and future tense
Because when you deep it, the western world externalises homophobia
to Africa and other places,
And yes, there’s anti-lbgtq+ legislation, but it was left by colonial traces
They introduced these rigid systems now seek to shame and shake their faces
It’s a distraction from the grip of colonisation that shapes this nation and is built on hatred
And so we must remember not to fall for the bate
We cannot continue their legacy and uphold this racist hate
Because to be transphobic is racist, its antisemitic too,
If the history in this poem doesn’t explain that, then maybe I’ve failed you
They want the minorities divided, whether we’re white, black, or brown
Because imagine if we all teamed up to equally advocate and pounce
To remember the enemy is them, not each other, back then or now
They are waiting for us to grow tired, infighting, dead and proud
We must together, stay strong and ready, waiting with a plan devised
And when the revolution comes we will not walk, but we shall fly
Notes :
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