Analysis of Exposure of a Caste



Exposure of a Caste

I watched as racism rushed out of you like blood from a deep cut.
I could see blood stains on your hands and regalia
as you chose white privilege over democracy that night.
You think your white skin is translucent, but it is clear what lies inside,
detestation and fury for any person of color that proves,
even with your exploitation and alienation, they still can rise.

Governing with your fake crown, protesting you are deserving.
You proclaim you fought hard for your high rank in the oligarchy.
Who are you kidding? Your worth was ascribed, not earned!
You were born into wealth.  Yours is not a story of rags to riches.
Only your arrogance allows you to believe that is the truth.
You are frustrated when you are dismissed by someone of a lower caste.
Infuriated when a Black or Brown brother or sister passes you in the ranks.

You have justified in your mind it is ok to call Blacks and Browns criminals and illegals,
pronouncing your superiority while, them, you belittle.
Lock them up and throw away the key, you say. I have no use for them.
Shoot them, starve them, enslave them, take their rights away.
No longer off my tax dollars will their children be nourished.
Why should my hard-earned money be given to them with the expectation they will flourish?

Continue to live with a blindfold over your eyes.
Preach your creed about how this country was pledged to people like you.
Bestowed upon the pale-skinned under the assumption of manifest destiny.
This allows you to be deliberately obtuse
about the damage you cause others with your brutality and gluttony.
Keep kids in cages so that your children don’t have to compete.
This only benefits you, but WHITE PRIVILEGE, you can’t see.

You wear your tainted sacred thread like an honor badge.
Telling everyone your war stories about how you labored to get everything you have.
You speak with righteous indignation to your MAGA hat-wearing crowds.
Brainwashing your followers into believing you are bringing America back
to that nation it once was when only people that looked like you
were worshiped, respected, and deserved to be treated like royalty.
Demanding your believers charge the White House, ordering them to kill
anyone who demonstrated their disloyalty on Capitol Hill.

Convincing your henchmen that Blacks and Browns are replacing them
and soon, whites will be placed dead last in the caste ranks.
You recruit your ignorant to wage war to eliminate the threat
of having to live in a world where your white skin is seen as repulsive,
dangerous and no longer of any worth.
You quake at the thought of not having any value in this newly colored world.

You will be dethroned and forced to see that you were never worthy.
I see that smirk on your face as you push that wheel barrel of generational wealth down the street
piled so high with things you claimed you earned while
exploiting, raping, robbing, lynching, beating, and brutally murdering Blacks and Browns
so that you could continue to keep your place of sovereignty.
You are burning books, so you never have to speak of the past           APOLOGETICALLY.
Hoping your children and grandchildren never see the truth.

The grand finale is soon to come when you become accustomed to disregard,
and your work will be devalued; serving the regal should be done without financial reward.
Your schools will be lined with police acting as Department of Corrections guards,
preparing you for your future in the prison yard.
For your white skin will be viewed as a peril.
We will count your young to predict how many prison beds will be needed in the coming decade.
We must lock away your young adults before they revolt against the cruelty.
We must incarcerate your youth before self-repugnance and killing become commonality.

No books to read, for we the people have determined that education is lost on you.
No food to eat unless you beg; free lunch comes with the loss of dignity.
Once the revolution is over and we take one last knee,
you will be forced to beg for favors from people  
you lynched, burned, and left in poverty.
Good luck with the future once your new destiny is discerned,
There is no returning      for those bridges you have already burned.


Scheme A XXXXXB XCDXEAF XGHXXX BICXCJC XXXXICKK HFXXXX CJXXCCE LXXLGXCC ICCGCDD
Poetic Form
Metre 010101 111101111111011 111111110010 11111010010011 11111101011111101 10101101011011 101110000101111 100111101011010 101111111100100 111101110111 10101111101011110 1011000111011101 1110111011110101 01001011110110101001 11100111111111011000010 010100100111010 11101010111111111 111101111101 110111101110110 111111011011100101110 010111011011 1110111101111011 0101011100010110100 1011110100001 0101011101101000100 110101111011101 11010011110111 1111010111101 10101110011110111011 111100101111101 10110001010111001001 1110111110101111 01001000111101100 01010101011100111 1011001010011001 010110110110101 011111110011 1011100111101001 110110011111111010 10001101101 11101111010100110101 1110101111101010 11111111111110101001101 1111111111 10101010100100100101 111101011111100 11101111011110100100 1011001010101 0101011111101010101 0111101100101110101001 1111110110101010101 0101111000101 11111111010 111111011101011110001001 1110111010110101010 11010110111010010100 111111010101010101111 111101111111011100 10010110011111 111111110110 111010100 111010111100101 1110101110110101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 4,226
Words 792
Sentences 46
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 1, 6, 7, 6, 7, 8, 6, 7, 8, 7
Lines Amount 63
Letters per line (avg) 53
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 337
Words per stanza (avg) 74

About this poem

It is exposing the myth of meritocracy in the U.S.

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Written on November 06, 2022

Submitted by dburriskitchen on January 11, 2024

3:57 min read
58

Deborah Burris-Kitchen

Deborah J. Burris-Kitchen, Ph.D., is a Professor of Criminology and Department Chair at Tennessee State University in Nashville. She is the author of Female Gang Participation (Edwin Mellen Press, 1997). In addition, she co-authored an article on racism in higher education in the College Student Journal (2000). Her publications include a book titled Short Rage: an autobiographical look at Heightism in America (2002). She has a book chapter (July 2010) titled Pathways to Prison: Implications for the Health and Mental Health in the African American Community in Handbook for African American Health Psychology: Evidence-based Treatment and prevention practices (edited by Robert Hampton & Ray Crowell); From Slavery to Prisons: A Historical Delineation of the Criminalization of African Americans (2010); a journal article titled Short Rage Revisited (2018); and Deviance and Control, Kendall and Hunt (2020) and a second edition of Deviance and Control was released by Kendall and Hunt in 2021. Dr. Burris-Kitchen has served as the research committee chair and Vice President of the National Organization of Short-Statured Adults (NOSSA). She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi. She has served as President of the Association of Humanist Sociology (AHS) and was a member of AHS for many years. She has also been a member of the American Society of Criminology and the American Sociological Association. Dr. Burris –Kitchen is an activist who fights against violence, racism, exploitation, greed, and capitalism. more…

All Deborah Burris-Kitchen poems | Deborah Burris-Kitchen Books

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