For me the feeling is disgust and anger.
Because the way I look at it, if I see it, I just get so mad,
because I think, how dare this person be able to wear that, or hold that, or put that statue in her house,
and not take any of the oppression for it.
How dare they, you know?
And I get so mad because I think, that's not fare.
You know, we have to take so much heat, and repression for expressing ourselves,
and when I look at my parents and all the struggle they had to go through to try to just fit in, in this country, and to just kinda keep low, so they don't call attention to themselves,
and they don't provoke a reaction from the broader American community.
And you think of all the stress and the pain,
and then I think about my friend and the shame that she had.
And I think about all those things, all in that split second when I see this person,
and I think, I'm gonna rip that thing of your head and scrub that thing off your hands,
because you don't have the right to wear it,
because until the day you walk in our shoes and you face what we faced,
and the pain, and the shame, and the hurt,
and the fear,
until that day, you don't have the right to wear that,
it is not your right and your not worthy of it.
And that's how I feel so angry, because I feel that it's so superficial,
and it's a disrespected thing,
on day, wake up, be me, and then you'll see how powerful it is what you're wearing.