Tag: bias

poetry

biased confession

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biased confession

the Implicit Association Test
objectively states
Your responses suggested a strong automatic association for Asians with animals and whites with humans.

horror shame embarrassment disappointment blame
(the lousy line drawings
my nodding-off self)

there is no kind way
to write these wretched words
no phrase to adequately apologize
to my friends who are Asian
for the othering my mind
unconsciously mindlessly may do
the damage I unwittingly inflict daily
including inside this very line in my confession
no way to obtain absolution
no penance that will offset the harm
my unwanted bias wreaks
on all the beloved human animals
I breathe with today

poetry

Tacna-Puno bus

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Tacna-Puno bus

little abuelita
in her thin grey braids
tied together at the tips
sensible shoes and thick nude hose
pink flowered dress
and bougainvillea-tinted cardigan
with a blue pocketed smock over top
brown lined face
and mostly toothless smile
you chatter on
and instead of according you
great respect as expected
folks mostly ignore you

why?

maybe they are crazy ravings
or maybe they were taught
not to speak to “Indians”

poetry

majority advice

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majority advice

a majority of the time
when the minority warns you
that you are behaving badly
it is not only so but also
you have revealed that you understand
such a minority of the minority’s experiences
that you have not only been careless
but careless to the degree of warranting correction
warranting notification of the nonsense
of your nonidentification
with the minority’s concerns
and then
in the majority of cases
the major actions you must take are:
first, do no further harm –
do not defend your mostly indefensible ignorance;
second, apologize for the wounds (intentional or un-) you have created
or (more likely) further inflamed;
third, apologize for the effort your edification has cost someone
who undoubtedly has better things to do;
fourth, listen attentively and humbly to the majority of this other viewpoint,
even if you only see it by squinting;
fifth, live your life differently, eyes a little wider, viewfinder a little more sensitive, field of view a little larger;
sixth, help someone else from your frame of reference
also see things with this new frame
at least a majority of the time