All Asians know karate, and eat raw fish,
Chitlins and collard greens are Blacks favorite dish,
The Irish are nothing but wife beaters and drunks,
And don't turn your back on those Spic thieving punks,
Italians, even women, are short, fat, and hairy,
Rednecks practice incest and are children when they marry,
French people smell, the girls don't shave their pits,
And all Jews are greedy though they're all filthy rich,
All East Indians own gas stations or convenience stores,
All Americans are fat and their women are whores.
Doesn't this sound stupid when it's being read?
So think how it sounds when it's being said!
Better yet, how would it feel if said about you,
your family, your friends, or just someone you knew?
Now multiply that by everyone that they know,
Soon you would cover the entire globe,
Do you see what I mean, do you get what I'm saying?
One little comment, and the whole world is paying!
Chitlins and collard greens are Blacks favorite dish,
The Irish are nothing but wife beaters and drunks,
And don't turn your back on those Spic thieving punks,
Italians, even women, are short, fat, and hairy,
Rednecks practice incest and are children when they marry,
French people smell, the girls don't shave their pits,
And all Jews are greedy though they're all filthy rich,
All East Indians own gas stations or convenience stores,
All Americans are fat and their women are whores.
Doesn't this sound stupid when it's being read?
So think how it sounds when it's being said!
Better yet, how would it feel if said about you,
your family, your friends, or just someone you knew?
Now multiply that by everyone that they know,
Soon you would cover the entire globe,
Do you see what I mean, do you get what I'm saying?
One little comment, and the whole world is paying!
I found this poem while doing some research on our issue. Originally I was confused on the message of the poem, since it began with a bunch of racial stereotypes, but the last two stanzas really put in focus the problems associated with these harsh words. Honestly, no one can really say they haven't been a victim of prejudice or not guilty of stereotyping someone, everyone has done it but some more harshly than others. Personally, being an immigrant and coming from Middle Eastern background, I never experienced very rash racial comments. Most of them happened in elementary school with some kids saying my eyebrows were ugly because they were too thick, how my body hair is too dark and the usual "terrorist" remark. Sadly, I had prejudice before towards people, usually based on how they dress and appear. It is something inevitable from life and makes us human, but it does not mean it's not a serious issue limiting us from developing as the human race.
The poem started off by listing many common stereotypes based upon different races, ethnicities and even gender. It closes off with telling the reader "You just read all these stereotypes,don't you think it was stupid? Imagine how these sound when people actually say them?" The author made a very good point, if they sound immature when read, it must be much worse if these phrases were actually uttered. The ending few lines wraps it all up by telling the reader to imagine those insults were said by one person then diffused into the whole world knowing about it. It really shows how one insult can snowball into this huge stereotype that is based upon an ENTIRE community. I love how it raises controversy on how stereotypes are being spread and that the root of the problem may just be ignorance and immaturity towards diversity.
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