Women Everywhere Look Just Like Her?

I was planning on ranting on and on about the objectification of women of color in America. About the decades of media propaganda that have allowed little but half-bakes caricatures of Chinese/ Latina/ Brazilian/ Ethiopian/ Caribbean / bi-racial/ (insert any non-white group of) women to dominate our popular culture. About the ignorance of the word "exotic," when applied to people, and of the cultural/ sexual hierarchy that it creates. But I decided against it...this time.

Instead, I will let Suheir Hammad speak for me:-)

A recent conversation with a friend reminded me of how much I ::HEART:: this piece!! And, in typical Suheir style, "Not Your Exotic, Not Your Erotic" is both fierce and tender. Wonderfully written and beautifully performed. She quickly cuts to the heart of the matter in a way that only she can.

Listen closely and open your hearts.

"don’t wanna be your exotic
some dark, fragile, colorful bird
imprisoned
caged in a land foreign to the stretch of her wings

don’t wanna be your exotic
women everywhere look just like me
some taller, darker, nicer than me
but like me just the same

women everywhere carry my nose on their faces
my name on their spirits

don’t seduce yourself with my other-ness"
(full text)

Screw Fashion!! This is a Matter of Principle!

WTF Friends!! Just found a BBC.com article about a woman in Sudan that has been jailed for wearing trousers. She refuses to plead guilty to their trumped up charges and refuses to pay a fine for what the government is calling "dressing indecently." Although the fine amounts to about $200, she says she's not going to give legitimacy to their ruling by giving them a single penny. This woman is fierce and the defintition of a real feminist!! But why oh why do we live in a world where women are still being jailed and fined for wearing trousers!??! Madness!

In the words of my home girl Suheir Hammad - "I will dance and resist and dance persist and dance!!" Not for the sake of fashion, but because there is no progress without struggle!

Read more below -

Sudanese 'trousers woman' jailed
A Sudanese woman has been jailed for a month after refusing to pay a fine for "dressing indecently" by wearing trousers, her lawyers say.

Lubna Ahmed Hussein did not want to "give the verdict any legitimacy" by paying the fine of about $200 (£122), her lawyer, Nabil Adib, told the BBC.

Ms Hussein, a journalist in her 30s, could have been given up to 40 lashes.

Before the verdict, she had said she wanted her trial to become a test case for women's rights, correspondents say.

Ms Hussein had resigned from her job at the UN, which would have given her immunity.

"She thinks she was unfairly tried and convicted and was not given a proper chance to put her defence case," Mr Adib said.

He said Ms Hussein would appeal to both the Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.

Kamal Omar, another of Ms Hussein's lawyers, told the AFP news agency his client had been taken to the women's prison in Omdurman.

The BBC's James Copnall, at the court in Khartoum, says that Ms Hussein had previously said she was determined not to pay the fine but her lawyers had been trying to convince her to do so.

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Introducing the ZaatarDiva

Like most of my favs, I was turned on to the Palestinian-American poet/activist Suheir Hammad by HBO's Def Poetry Jam. It wasn't until I had the honor of seeing her spit live at a Palentininan students poetry night at my college, though, that I truly fell in love.

When you first see Suheir, the thing that gets you are her eyes. They're simultaneously soothing and arresting. Of course, she's absolutely gorgeous (which makes the words that come out of her mouth all the more surprising) but don't be misled. This is one deep chica. She delivers every word with a sincerity that is deliberate and purposeful.

Suheir understands life in paradox- Her writing hearkens back to her immigrant roots while illustrating her Brooklyn NYC life with hip hop fury. She extends that same complexity to the tales of others she constructs. With the eloquence of an expert weaver, she peppers tough topics (war, rape, love, heartache) with a fiery tenderness that is often lost in the modern spoken word movement.

In case you can't tell, I'm a fan:-) I think hers was actually the first poetry CD that I bought.

Among her many, many accolades, Suheir also currently holds the third place spot on The Poetry Foundation's list of Best Selling Books from Small Press (ZaatarDiva by Suheir Hammad - Cypher Books). She's been in the game a long time and has managed to still stay on top.

I've included a few of her better known works below. Enjoy:-)

Mike Check



What I Will

"I will not dance to your war drum
I will not lend my soul nor my bones to your war drum
I will not dance to your beating
I know that beating is lifeless
I know that skin you are hitting
it was alive once
hunted
stolen
stretched
I will not dance to your war drum"