Faith Matesun

"My Manifesto Poem" by Faith Mateson

Stick together, they say, 
we are a team, they say, 
no need to stand out or scream, we all have dreams, they say 
We support you, they say 
but we do remind you that you’ll never succeed, because you don’t meet our requirements, not to be mean, of course, by the way 
humor me for moment as much as your willing,
But can you imagine a world where Black people don’t only book the villains 
Where men play realistic roles on stage, no more head of the family, macho man nonsense, but roles that show that in the middle of all the chaos and commotion, it’s more than okay to have and to show their emotions
Where people don’t have to give away the thing that makes them, them, simply because they don’t have the money
A world where it finally clicks, that people of color can play more than just the cute but comedic sidekick
that altos, basses and baritones can play other roles than the antagonist 
While this prejudice might exist in other parts of life, art is supposed to be the place we unapologetically express ourselves, this isn’t right 
In place for weirdos that we so struggled to find, even here we still have to hide 
We claim that the arts is an all inclusive, equality inducing, beautiful community
But the same people who say those things couldn’t even begin to tell you the definition of unity
I’d like to imagine a world of the arts where 
Within a cast there are no cliques, no creepy directors asking for pics, no more people making fun of the way you express your art form just, for kicks, 
Where instead of being bitter people are genuinely happy for others when they get lead roles
And where whether people respect you or not doesn’t depend on how many show tickets you’ve sold
If you would allow me to be so bold, I have to tell you that we need to fix this 
I know you would rather me put on a blindfold, and to blindly do what I’m told, to take your hand ,so you can force me not to stand, but I demand that you understand
that we need to fix this 
And though I would love to point fingers and say that this is the “big” people’s strewing, I know that we the community are partly responsible for our undoing
And I know that this is a difficult topic to discuss but,
I imagine a world in which the arts is not an I, a me, or a mine, but an US.