The Rich White Girl
by Matt Ford
As we walked out the door
Someone spoke about needing their shirts ironed
“hire a Mexican to do it”
Said one of the rich white girls
I wondered if she thought it was okay
That she sounded like a Klansmen in the Jim Crow south
60 years earlier
When racism was casual
As normal as the cotton fields
Would she stick up for
Those old racist bastards?
Bull Connor’s terrorists on the streets of Birmingham
She wouldn’t
Or maybe she would because
She is their reincarnation with
Bleached hair and new trendy clothes
Someone should ask her on Martin Luther King Day
I wont ask her
I’d rather invite her to Southeast Fresno and
Leave her there after dark
See if a Mexican would help the rich white girl
Watch her beg and cry
Pull out her iphone to call her daddy
Who got rich by paying Mexicans to pick crops
On the land he inherited
While a nice old Mexican woman ironing clothes
Asks her if she needs help
Because she looks lost
Maybe then she’d learn
But probably not
Because here
Racism is casual
As normal as the corn fields
So I’d rather take that little rich white girl
Down to the barrio and
Watch her get the shit beat out of her
Watch the racist tears and blood roll down her filthy white face
Maybe then she’d learn
But probably not
by Matt Ford
As we walked out the door
Someone spoke about needing their shirts ironed
“hire a Mexican to do it”
Said one of the rich white girls
I wondered if she thought it was okay
That she sounded like a Klansmen in the Jim Crow south
60 years earlier
When racism was casual
As normal as the cotton fields
Would she stick up for
Those old racist bastards?
Bull Connor’s terrorists on the streets of Birmingham
She wouldn’t
Or maybe she would because
She is their reincarnation with
Bleached hair and new trendy clothes
Someone should ask her on Martin Luther King Day
I wont ask her
I’d rather invite her to Southeast Fresno and
Leave her there after dark
See if a Mexican would help the rich white girl
Watch her beg and cry
Pull out her iphone to call her daddy
Who got rich by paying Mexicans to pick crops
On the land he inherited
While a nice old Mexican woman ironing clothes
Asks her if she needs help
Because she looks lost
Maybe then she’d learn
But probably not
Because here
Racism is casual
As normal as the corn fields
So I’d rather take that little rich white girl
Down to the barrio and
Watch her get the shit beat out of her
Watch the racist tears and blood roll down her filthy white face
Maybe then she’d learn
But probably not
