Niggers and Pakis
Niggers and Pakis.
Did the start of this poem shock you?
Niggers or Paki’s any single word they use to classify and identify our identity to degrade us worse then the slave ships and worse then the struggle for INDEPENDENCE,
Now we are in this country, they say London is so diverse, but our colour and creed is a curse to them, trapped in the system of capitalism, and they fool us into thinking we need their DEPENDENCE
The shortened version of the word Pakistani to a four letter word that bigots of the 70’s enjoyed using while bashing my family, and the N word used to described slaves to degrade them, disgrace them, yet we use them in abundance.
Words that state us and paint our personality and taint our reality,
Two words trickled down to the youth, in dismay, passed through like an urban cool, but who’s the fool; tell me who’s the fool when these words would make Enoch Powell drool. At the thought that we the minority, driving the NHS and maintaining the elite authority, degrade ourselves in such a way.
I can’t understand why these words are in the oxford dictionary, when it’s just fantasy fiction created by the oppressors of the past, how long will this last, They tell us to move from past to present but like the Palestinian scarf this fashion is one that is likely to last.
The problem isn’t as simple as a pimple on your face, as we scratch away, hoping one day this dilemma will go away, scratching away, until nothing is left but a scar on your cheek and mankind’s conscious.
Politicians tell us to move on, while I wipe the backside of the Lord in the chamber, I just wiped you bottom, can I have my peerage now please? Prince Harry showing us that the monarchy have not changed, just exchanged the whip for the word.
And now the disease is a condition, smiles of the bigots in the graves develop as I call my Pakistani friend a Paki and my Black friend a nigger, as if, spitting in the faces of the brave men and women who fought in the struggle.
What are you gonna do Nigger? Are you just gonna sit there you Paki?
Lucifer the original racist, made of fire, questioned clay, and the world is still struggling from Xenophobia till today.
The solution remains in the heart, where the disease was first implemented, showing brothers your love is above all else what we must strive for, to escape this condition and that Is the mission.
So when you walk on the street, embrace your brother, black, white, brown any colour that our green, blue or brown eyes see. Because that is what my religion teaches me.
By Mohamed-Zain Dada
Must say that was well written. You seem to have to art of word play. I especially liked the way it became more intense as you came to your conclusion. If all writers/journalists/ politicians actually acted upon what they say or what they stand for then, then we would make some real progress, maybe see real change
Jeff
Thanks for the response Jeff! I think anyone reading this poem needs to understand that this is my view, and the debate on the issue of using racial slurs as empowering or derogatory has been going on for years. New York council even put a ban on the word!
To have a look at the debate: http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_%22Nigger%22,_use_of_the_word
I also noticed another flaw with this piece of work. (It is always constructive to analyse your own work rigorously so know one else can point out the flaws for you!) My initial reason for putting the words ‘Nigger’ and ‘Paki’ together was because they are two racially provocative words. However, thinking about it, the two words have completely varied origins and it would be so rich for a ‘middle class, cocooned, guardian reading teen’ to just chuck the two words together. Thus, my conclusion would be, that the two words are perhaps different entities, and should belong in separate poems, perhaps.
This piece is really moving. As a young teen, I remember being chased by skin heads in my area of Barking. I would come out the train station and the first words that I would hear would be ‘You stupid ‘paki.’ Those few words hurt my soul and has affected me ever since. I still remember saying to one of the skin heads: ‘you hurt me, but I still love you’ and he responded by calling me a ‘paki battyboy.’ All these experiences made me stronger. Thank you so much Zain, bringing tears to my eyes
This is such an emotional piece of writing. I have never seen something so baeutifully constructed in my lifetime
I found this to be a very motivating poem. I am of arab descent yet I once found myself in the cross-fire of being called a ‘paki’ shortly after the July Bombings in London. I never really had any qualms about the word, as in, I knew the word was wrong, but I did not condemn the use or misuse of the word. Having read this, it has made me want to tell everyone, that the words ‘Nigger and Paki’ are shameful and should be eradicated from the English language.