why this country is still racist: reasons 1-15

because i see more raised eyebrows
as a black law graduate
than as a black single parent
because white people fear me more
when i am over educated
than when i am in need
because even though i am more educated
and better spoken
than the white man i am standing next to
i apparently came by mail order
or at the very least
opportunism
because when they tell me
my ‘mixed race’ children are sooo cute
what they are really saying
is your children are beautiful
because we bred with you
because when white people ask me
where I’m from and I say
sydney
they tell me i am hostile
and know what they really mean
because i have had thirty three years
to understand
what it is they really fucking mean
because asking me
what language i speak
is offensive
when i was born and raised here
and asking me
what language they speak
where my parents come from
is even more offensive
when four hundred years of genocide
at the hands of white people
possibly related to them
raped and bred from us
the very language they are asking me to speak
because they even dare to ask me about language
when neither of us knows
the many tongues
the land on which we’re standing speaks
because right now they are probably thinking
far out what is your problem
we are just interested alright
which really translates to
you are brown
and i therefore
am well entitled
to ask for and expect
an explanation
because in australia
an angry white man
is assertive / powerful
or dangerous
but an angry black woman
is crazy / hilarious
or hysterical
because as a black  female writer it is more difficult
for me to get published
and as a published black female writer
i am less likely to be read
because life is a score creep:
and just to stand on that slam stage
i have already had to work
ten times harder than them