I love button poetry's audience. They're so cheerful and always make the poet satisfied with their work. Someone get me onto their stage I wanna recite a poem!!!
I’m half white, half native indian. And lately I’ve really been thinking about my race and if I’m allowed to say I’m native because I look so white. I really like this poem. I like that there is someone who is out there who is like me.
oh my god I'm getting shivers , the 'where are you really from' really drove it home; the I'm white but I'm not is too real for me sometimes . I feel like the intentional lack of capital letters reminds me of how casual and under the radar the conflicting thoughts of race are idk
As an East African that does not look like the rest of my family the line I resonating with “I don’t look like most of my family I look like the people who hurt my family” a great poem from a great poet
I legit have "cousins" (because in Panama, if your parent's good friend has a child, they are your cousin) who have a family like this. They have two girls, the oldest on white with dark hair, the youngest black with light eyes, and their dad is black while their mom is white. And my mom was JUST telling me about them yesterday. So the entire video, I was like, is that her, or is this a huge coincidence?
Snaps, claps and baseball bats. That was fire. What an interesting perspective from a woman that is mixed so racially it's difficult to draw the line for other people.
Though my great Grandparents migrated from Lebanon and Syria, the younger generations of my family pass as white---because we are white. Yet, it still feels too personal when a middle eastern person gets called a terrorist. When someone calls immigrants disgusting I am reminded of the family I never knew and the culture that exists to me only in the food we eat at family dinners. My mom's skin has grown whiter over time and my generation sees her as such. They do not see the lies she told during 9/11 when she claimed she was Greek; the fear in her eyes when she received mail, scared it was filled with anthrax. Scared she would lose me because she was pregnant with when 9/11 happened. They do not see me bursting into tears after the last election because middle eastern people were being targetted and killed again, a memory of 2016 white people have forgotten. My mother does not understand why I feel so free to speak out, to freely claim my bisexuality, to argue openly about feminism and equality to people who do not agree with me. It took me up until now to realize that her silence was taught to her from a young age as a tool for survival. She could not be the middle eastern woman that everyone expected, she must be kind, considerate, open, diplomatic, all the traits terrorists are not. I will never understand what it means to be looked at as brown, and I know the privilege that comes with that, so all my life I've called myself white because I did not know what else I was. I've struggled with this identity of being both and neither at the same time and have not found anyone outside my family that understands how that feels, so thank you.
This poem was so beautiful. But as a scholar in school hopefully someone would educate me on why Middle Eastern would be considered White anyway. I wouldn't consider them as White based off cultural differences and other things.
she has a really nice last name. rizkallah comes from rizki which means fortune and allah is the god muslims worship. so that means jess is a fortune given from god. and i think it's true though, and her thoughts are brilliant 😍
Ana Libnani .Was an Artist and a musician like the half Iranian Leonardo. I did pavement art copies of Left hander Raphael and original nativity at christmas. One girl from art school said why isn't Jesus's hair black. I played classical guitar an Arabic instrument via Spain I was left-handed before my stoke. Are you a musician Jess
It's basically her internal conflict of being white, but not being white. Or, as a lot of people say "White passing" which just means she has skin light enough to pass as being white, but she's not. She's american, but also not. She's white, but also not. So she should be one or the other but not both in a lot of people's eyes. That's what I got from it at least.
"I look like the people who hurt my family" God I feel this so hard
I will regret this *hugs*
“It’s so easy to hate them.” Damn, that was real af.
this is so wonderfully complex.
I love button poetry's audience. They're so cheerful and always make the poet satisfied with their work. Someone get me onto their stage I wanna recite a poem!!!
I’m half white, half native indian. And lately I’ve really been thinking about my race and if I’m allowed to say I’m native because I look so white. I really like this poem. I like that there is someone who is out there who is like me.
Half Black, half white here. Same.
oh my god I'm getting shivers , the 'where are you really from' really drove it home; the I'm white but I'm not is too real for me sometimes .
I feel like the intentional lack of capital letters reminds me of how casual and under the radar the conflicting thoughts of race are idk
Jess! You are a gift to the world!
I'm also Lebanese but not as dark as most of my family so this hit me so hard, thank you so much!!
As an East African that does not look like the rest of my family the line I resonating with “I don’t look like most of my family I look like the people who hurt my family” a great poem from a great poet
I'm also half white half Lebanese (exact combo, brown dad and white mom) and this spoke to me on so many levels
She is blowing my mind. I love this!
i have been trying to refind this for forever, SO GLAD I DISCOVERED I SAVED IT IN A RANDOM PLAYLIST
I'm half Iranian and this resonates so much with me.
watched this over and over again. Grand.
you put into words so many things i feel but cannot express! thank you, sister
actual shivers omg
WOW! Mixed Armenian here. This was life changing.
This is absolutely nourishing for my soul right now
She seems so chill and cool . I like this poem!
Beautiful.
Jess you are great! So many of your poems have been eye opening to me since I started dating someone with a Palestinian background. Thank you so much
I love this poem.
this is so important.
freakin awesome way to pour your heart into words!! as a "white latina" i very much appreciate this
One of the best pieces I've ever head. Hands down!! X
thank you.
Absolutely killed this! Hit deep with nearly every line!
thank you for placing words to this feeling
I feel this.
Yes yes yes!!!!
I love this
Being a light-skinned Hawaiian, I feel every word reverberating in my bones.
This is, without fail my new favorite slam/modern poem.
This is beautiful!
Bless you
Your flow was effortless
This. Is. So. Important.
I love this so mucu
This is amazing
this is beautiful
this was wonderful
Wow, this gave me goosebumps,
love u
i need this written down 😢
Powerful
Very powerful. Makes you think.
WOWED 😍😍😍😍😍
I legit have "cousins" (because in Panama, if your parent's good friend has a child, they are your cousin) who have a family like this. They have two girls, the oldest on white with dark hair, the youngest black with light eyes, and their dad is black while their mom is white. And my mom was JUST telling me about them yesterday. So the entire video, I was like, is that her, or is this a huge coincidence?
Damn girl. You killed it.
I'm half Syrian. I really identify with this poem.
I am half Turkish, whiter than the rest of my family and your words could not hit home more.
So much relate-able as a pakistani muslim girl
God that was awesome.
Snaps, claps and baseball bats. That was fire. What an interesting perspective from a woman that is mixed so racially it's difficult to draw the line for other people.
I fucking love this.
as a Lebanese women I am proud
Hell yeah Lebanese pride!
Though my great Grandparents migrated from Lebanon and Syria, the younger generations of my family pass as white---because we are white. Yet, it still feels too personal when a middle eastern person gets called a terrorist. When someone calls immigrants disgusting I am reminded of the family I never knew and the culture that exists to me only in the food we eat at family dinners. My mom's skin has grown whiter over time and my generation sees her as such. They do not see the lies she told during 9/11 when she claimed she was Greek; the fear in her eyes when she received mail, scared it was filled with anthrax. Scared she would lose me because she was pregnant with when 9/11 happened. They do not see me bursting into tears after the last election because middle eastern people were being targetted and killed again, a memory of 2016 white people have forgotten. My mother does not understand why I feel so free to speak out, to freely claim my bisexuality, to argue openly about feminism and equality to people who do not agree with me. It took me up until now to realize that her silence was taught to her from a young age as a tool for survival. She could not be the middle eastern woman that everyone expected, she must be kind, considerate, open, diplomatic, all the traits terrorists are not. I will never understand what it means to be looked at as brown, and I know the privilege that comes with that, so all my life I've called myself white because I did not know what else I was. I've struggled with this identity of being both and neither at the same time and have not found anyone outside my family that understands how that feels, so thank you.
Whoa
Im a white Mexican and i relate
I feel you I'm half white and half latina
This poem was so beautiful. But as a scholar in school hopefully someone would educate me on why Middle Eastern would be considered White anyway. I wouldn't consider them as White based off cultural differences and other things.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Oh man! A fellow pale brown woman! It can get complicated.
We have had 3 alphabets cuniform for 1500 years,the precurser of the western alphabet for 2000 years AND arabic from the 7th cent.
she has a really nice last name. rizkallah comes from rizki which means fortune and allah is the god muslims worship. so that means jess is a fortune given from god. and i think it's true though, and her thoughts are brilliant 😍
can somebody write the words of the poem, please? I think that the poem is beautiful but there are some sentences I do not get. thank you
I showed an Italian a picture of Carthage before Roman distruction.He said is that Rome
Ana Libnani .Was an Artist and a musician like the half Iranian Leonardo.
I did pavement art copies of Left hander Raphael and original nativity at christmas.
One girl from art school said why isn't Jesus's hair black.
I played classical guitar an Arabic instrument via Spain
I was left-handed before my stoke.
Are you a musician Jess
As a white latina I completely I agree with u
It is such a nuanced poem isn't it?
can someone explain this please
It's basically her internal conflict of being white, but not being white. Or, as a lot of people say "White passing" which just means she has skin light enough to pass as being white, but she's not. She's american, but also not. She's white, but also not. So she should be one or the other but not both in a lot of people's eyes. That's what I got from it at least.
Am I the only one that's thinks of Ellie from TLoU when she says fuck you...? 😅😅
ابو على شيباني
Albino Native American and I get it
and suddenly i hate him..... period
This is embarrassing
Learning about intersectionality can feel that way at first! Best of luck =)