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I am not black.
Prince ea said it right,
That’s what the world calls me, but   it’s not me,
I didn’t come out of my mother’s womb saying “heey everybody, I’m black”,
No. I was taught to be black,
And you were taught to call me that, along with whatever you call yourself,
It’s just a LABEL.

See, from birth the world false feeds us these LABELS,
And eventually, we all swallow them, we digest and accept the LABELS, never ever doubting them.

But there is one problem,
LABELS are not you,
And LABELS are not me,
LABELS are just LABELS.

But who we truly are is not skin deep,
See, when I drive my car no one would ever confuse the car for me,
Well, when I drive my body, why do you confuse me for my body, it’s my body, get it!. Not me.

Let me break it down,
See, our bodies are just cars that we operate and drive around,
The dealership we call society decided to label mine the Black Edition,
And with no money down that is zero percent and no test-drive,
We were forced to own these cars for the rest of our lives.

Forgive me, but I fail to see the logic or pride,
In defining myself or judging another by the cars we drive,
Because who we truly are is found inside.

Listen, I’m not here to tell you how science is concluded,
That genetically we are all mixed in,
And that all human species doesn’t exist,
Or how every historian knows the evolution of all human beings that was invented in the 5th century  and it has worked perfectly.

No. I am not here to lecture.
I just wanna ask one question,
Who would you be if the world never gave you a LABEL?,
Never gave you a box to check,
Someone please answer that cause i'm still in the dark,
No. We would be one,
We would be together,
No longer living in the era of calling human beings people,
These LABELS that will forever blind us from seeing a person for who are,
But instead seeing them through their judgmental, prejudicial, artificial filters of who we think they are,
And when you let an artificial label define yourself,
Then my friend, you have chosen smallness over Greatness and minimized yourself,
Confined and divided yourself from others,
And it is undeniable fact that where there is division there will be conflict,
And conflict starts wars, therefore every war has started over labels,
It’s always us versus them,
So the answer to war, racism, sexism and every other –eism is so simple that every politician has missed it,
It’s the labels,
We must reap them off.

Isn’t it funny how no baby is born racist?
Yet every baby cries when they hear the cry’s of another,
No matter their gender, culture or color,
Proven that deep down we were meant to connect and care for each other,
That is our mission,
And that is not my opinion,
That is the truth in a world that has sold us fiction,
Please listen, Labels only distorted our vision,
Which is for  half of those watching these will dismiss it or feel resistance and conflicted,
But, just remember, so did the caterpillar before it broke the which shell and became the magnificent butterfly,
Well these labels are our shells and we must do the same thing so we can finally spread our wings,
Human beings were not meant to be slapped with labels like groceries and supermarkets,
DNA cannot be regulate everyday,
We were meant to be free and only until we remove them all,
And stop living and thinking so small,
Will we be free to see ourselves and each other for who we truly are.
An inspiration from the great Prince ea.This goes to everyone out there, as he said, "we are not LABELS, labels are not you and labels are not me, Labels are just labels.We must reap them off".
Rachel Julia Oct 2015
I hate labels.
so you may ask me why do you compulsively put words and purposes and dates and times on everything you have.
I hate labels but I love organization.
The problem with labels is they rarely tell the whole story.
Labels are short, just a snapshot of the essence that the thing or person boils down to
but I don’t believe anything can really be that simple.
Labels can make everything easier.
You get the main point, the thing that stands out, FAST.
but that’s like starting a story at it’s ******, you get no previous information and that high point that holds so much meaning if you've read the entire story turns flat.
A flat character doesn’t grow or change or feel all that much but they usually have a label.
Labels turn real multidimensional, complicated, interesting people into flat characters.
He is not gay.
She is not a cutter.
and He is not transgender.
They are real people and you cannot possibly fit a person into a single worded description of the thing that stands out about them or makes them different.  
That is not enough for me!
The gay guy likes ice cream and romantic comedies, he's afraid of commitment, that scar is from his own blade and he volunteers on Wednesdays.
The cutter is seventeen and she lives with her grandparents. Almost everybody shes loved has walked away.
She has hair the color of sand at the beach and she wants to work in security at the airport so she can finally have control over who leaves and who stays.
The transgender man never felt trapped in the wrong body, the world just told him that his body was wrong. He’s a freshman in college and nobody ever told him how hard it would be. He calls his mom every night because he knows she worries and he cares. He has skin the color of caramel and he desperately wants to get married.
I hope you now understand that a label is never never enough.
You could argue that I’m afraid of being defined and of defining others with just a word,
but if you ask me a fear of labels is a very legitimate, considerate, and justifiable fear to have.
Labels are simply not enough.
And that's why I hate labels.
Stevie Nov 2020
So I guess the world is screaming that we need to end Racism and Offensive words and Labels, but what happens when a piece of writing from someone who is seeing the whole world screaming about one thing, but yet acting normal just after a few weeks of it hitting the social media and media outlets.

So I decided to write this including all the Racial and offensive terms that I could research and put them in a list, If we are to discuss and try and make things better, then why should we be scared to be called racist or evil for pin pointing stupidity out because everyone else whether upset, angry or hateful towards someone or a community, even a group and let see how many people lie about not using any offensive or racist term online or in person, even if you thought it and not even said it.

Cause thinking the offensive or racist term/word also makes you just as bad of a person that speaks the words.

"

A Fair amount of Research when into this, and it a good way of explaining,
How we all see each other and every single person on this planet.
This was written to prove that everything is offensive,
that no one is every in a situation that is similar, but in a situation where histories are different,
But yet, if you are offended by this, trust me, I bet you even use some offensive, racial terms and labels to describe someone you hate or don't like,
So what makes you different from me or the next person who is classed as offensive.

Labels, Stop,
Labels, Go ahead,
Labels, all the others,
Go ahead and write them,
Fabric, paper and on skin,
Just let the labels sink in.


All Races and Enthics Racial Terms that are Labels, Not only Blacks and White's.
You're Racist,
You're a Ngger,
You're a ******,
You're 8 Mile.
You're a Albino,
You're a Bean Dipper,
You're a Beach N
gger,
You're a Baijo.
You're a *****,
You're a Guati,
You're a Beanbag,
You're a Border N*gger,
Border Hopper,
You're a FOB,
You're an Curry Muncher,
You're a Desi,
You're a Dot/Dot Head,
Here Dotti,
We are at war with the Crunchies,
The Whacky jinglies,
You're an Irish Cat Licker,
Are you actually an F.B.I,
You're religious, you ***** Mackerel Snapper,
Look at all these Irish Indian Narrow Backs,

All Other Labels,
You're a puff,
You're a *****,
You're a ***,
You're a *****,
You're so Ratchet,
You're an illegal Alien,
Hey we both gay, but that no ****,
*****, **, ****,
You're Bisexual - that just straight privilege,
You're a ******,
He, She, Never mind you just look like cousin IT,
You're a ****, ****, Never mind I can see you're a *****,
You're stupid, thick, dumb,
Just a fat *** that just chubby and overweight,
******* hell, you're crazy, lost the plot,
You are ******* disturbed, bat **** crazy, Psychotic *******,
You're a bible thumper, that explains the homophobic ****,
You're a Fundie, God botherer,
Bible Basher, you know God is a child thrasher,
You're a *****,
You're small are you a ******,
You look like you're apart of DC/Marvel a ******* Mutant,
Eww what is wrong with your face are you a Mongol,
That just hysterical so you must be *******,
everyone is a ******* Imbecile.
Lani Foronda  Jul 2014
Labels
Lani Foronda Jul 2014
I don't like labels.
Labels mean restrictions.
Oh, you want to do that?
No no, you can't!

Labels mean expectations and
Expectations means disappointment.
Labels mean something has to be
Ought to be
Like this
& not like that.
We'd constantly be thinking if what we were doing
Was what we should be doing.

I like labels.
Labels mean structure,
And structure means order.
If everything was in its place-
Exactly as it ought to be-
We'd be okay.
We wouldn't have to worry about crossing over the lines
That the world has drawn up against us.
We'd know what to expect
And what to feel.
September26,2013
Cara Christie  Apr 2018
labels
Cara Christie Apr 2018
some people find labels oppressing

straight
gay
cis
trans
black
hispanic
girl
boy
none of the above

even the absence of a label is a label itself

labels are things that corner you in,
limit you to one word,
a word in which you MUST fit the bounds

labels only exist for things we know about,
what if we don’t even have a word for it yet?
they’re limiting in this way too

yet,
i find that i enjoy labels

i enjoy labeling myself as a white, cisgender, pansexual girl

labels help me fit in
they help me to make sense of myself
and place myself in certain categories

labeling gender can be tough for some people
but i like identifying as a girl

labels can shut you in but they can also free you

free you from yourself
from the expectations of society
from embarrassment and dysphoria

i like labels
i don’t know about you
but they make life a whole lot easier for me
just a quick write so i hope you guys don’t judge it too harshly haha :)
raðljóst  Jan 2013
labels
raðljóst Jan 2013
sometimes it's tiring
to sit and listen
to our friends
who talk about labels
labels of clothing
labels of people
labels and labels
silly names for what
they want to be known for
hipster
geek
or
prep
but what do these labels serve?
the greed for attention?
our eyes drawn to
their facebook pages
their clothes
their hair and their
make up
but do we really see them?
we're blind to the souls
and overlook the spirits
of our peers
with selective sights
we look on the surface
and judge what we see
to be what they are
I am sitting with my computer on my lap and apple in my left hand while writing this. My "friends" are sitting at the table with me, and at the next table beside it in the library. A quiet place that once was, is now full of people trying to define themselves and fit in. They're so loud, and today, I am very silent. I am eating my apple and listening as I type this. Kate is beside me working on biology, headphones in to block out the rest, and a boy I  don't know is trying to pass math. I find better company in the people who say nothing than the people who say so much but mean so little.
Julius Dec 2013
For all the people who tell me I can't be a feminist

My feminism ruins my chat up lines
So much so that you couldn't call them that
I feel pathetic, ironic
Less of a man
Because I haven't touched a girl without her permission
Girls spill their drinks on me in clubs (with no apology), boys don't
Boys ask permission before they touch my entertaining hair
I love women, they're better to be around
I'm not gay, bi maybe but don't stick labels on me
Actually girls do that to me all the time
Literally, they rub their wet hands on my clothes
And stick stickers on me like I'm an object
But no a man is not objectified
Male equals misogynist
Equals creep
I can't criticise a woman's actions, thats sexist
They're in the struggle
This makes me wish I was a girl
I want informal privileges
I'm a ****** is that clear by now?
I don't know if I can **** a girl with my *****
With all of HIStory behind me

I suffer under patriarchy, but not like you do
I understand even non feminist girls,
Or bad feminists,
Still products of this gut wrenching, repulsive system
I'm crying now, an emotional wreck
My mates, some female, will tell me not to act like a girl
But that joke isn't funny anymore
It's too close to home and it's too near the bone
(or *****)
Literally the **** in my trousers is a curse I can't control
An animalistic cage that traps me within expectations
As I write outside a club, three people grab my hair
One male, so I'll take back the generalisation that they ask first. He didn't.
Girls look cold out here
They've come out like this for me
And I shouldn't feel guilty but I do
In the club I'm genuinely objectified
Girls get slurs, sexually abusive labels, they're human there
I'm literally shoved aside like a door by girls eager to look hot at the bar
The only feminist in a room full of chicks

I tolerate this because I love women
Is that sexist?
Is that gay?
If so that's very disappointing
But I've masturbated to **** involving girls
Is that sexist?
Female friendly ****
****** **** - Is that sexist?
I'm academic, I 'get' the gender binaries
Transcend sexuality labels - Is that arrogance?
Why don't these ******* love me?
Note the ironic slur
(Males can be ******* too)
So maybe I'm just the *****
But...I'm sorry
This is poetry, or prose dressed up like it
Emotional inadequacy dressed up like it
I've seen like minded men dispense with the term 'feminism' in pursuit of popularity
That tears me apart because women do the same
I'm not gay
I'm not gay
Stop with the labels
**** me with a strap-on if you have to
Get us back
But I'm not submissive, just overly dedicated
It'll hurt because my **** is virginal
Pure
Sure, I'm a feminist
But stop with the labels
This has become obscene
Put me on page 3 and call me a hero

I'm being sexist here
By noticing gender
Real feminists, please improve me
Fake feminists, how dare you use my views against me?
If I wasn't ugly I wouldn't be a feminist
(Product of my environment and all that)
Like you but with a rather different inferiority complex
As I said, please love me?
Or at least, let me be your friend because the average boy repulses me
Maybe we have at least that in common?
These men cause me to
Try to emasculate me
Women too even but it's understandably rarer
Though on the rise in our modern age
As feminism "succeeds"
But this is my pathetic emotional venting
My male sense of self importance
Or am I too harsh on myself?
Ok so I'll self aggrandise
I transcend your petty, completely logical movement
Look at yourself in the mirror
Metaphorically
(I'm fat too, and some girls make me feel the pain of it)
Yeah I'm a feminist ally
But I'll school half of you

"You've" made me leave the club now
I can't look at these amazing women the same way they want me to anymore
But by 'you've' I mean 'I'VE'
The emphasis is on me to remain rational,
Calculating (my chances with who in the club),
Hardy,
The breadwinner
The one with the jeans
Look, I'd wear a dress if it wasn't for the connotations
Ramifications
I'm ahead of my time, let's agree on what we can
I'm on your side can't you see?
I'm big, I could hurt you and I hate myself
For representing what could be
What is
What my brothers do behind my back
(Because my sickly chivalry would have me try my hardest to pummel these ******* into the ground to protect the damsel in distress)
But I'm not a violent person
As I text, I cant go back into the club but to say goodbye
to my female friend who I came out with alone despite the ****** undercurrent
I half notice two men try to charm this girl
I hear echoes of 'This Charming Man'
(Later I will go and stand on my own, leave on my own, go home, cry and want to die)
These ******* 'gentle' men

But here I'm being arrogant
Self indulgent
Assertive
Typically 'male'
I see a fight break out
The women aren't allowed to be involved
Their voices are drowned out though they push themselves between combatants
Men, we are responsible for wars
**** all of you (*some)
I'd trade social and political male privilege for free 'freedom from guilt'
I'd trade my **** away so I'm not called one callously
(You could even use it as a ***** if you wanted, but its not as big as the shop-bought alternative)
And the funniest thing is, I think my words are important
Think I can say all this and be a controversial,
Exciting
Challenging figure
Asserting my intellectual dominance
Now that's ironic
Ironic to the core that eats at me
That makes me feel like your plaything
Because these ironic jokes like me calling you ******* are too close to home, too near the bone
The bone I gave away, possibly to you (but it hardly matters)
I'm too 'above it all' to be loved or to love faithfully (like Morrissey?)
But all I ask is for your love

That's all I ask
For me to **** on the **** of your respect and trust
Like I did my mother, using her for milk
For sustenance
So my kind survives
And now I go back to the wild,
To the looks that barely notice me as they smash or glance off me
That label me a pig
Or a creep
Or a ****, a *******
Or a gay,
Or a man
Or a feminist

---

So next thing I know I'm with a load of girls again
(Rugby playing girls my mate knows)
I'm the only 'lad' (Irony really hurts)
I'm told my presence makes them claustrophobic
I give them five minutes
(Because my male voice counts for nothing when deciding on a club)
I tell them I'm a feminist
The more honest way out than pretending I'm gay
Its OK now
Thanks, labels.
I swallowed and dealt with the rejection because I'd just had this emotional vent
Thanks vent
And thanks girls for trying to make me feel small and unwelcome at your table
Because it makes me better
Makes me stronger (like men desire to be)
Only I was a step, a poem, a vent ahead this time
So I wasn't crushed or pierced under your high heel
High horse
You weren't willing to flip the tradition on its head and buy my entry to the club
When I couldn't pay
But it's OK.
At least you were real with me
And I'll be there in spirit
In my dreams
Checking you out while you buy drinks
Then wake up and hate myself again

Tears were in my eyes when the girl said that to me
But I, like a true misogynist,
Fought them back and remained a gentleman
Polite and robotically rational
Pliable
But really, how painfully ironic are these semantics?
To 'fight' emotion
To 'fight' honesty?

Like men do, because we're all the same
Jade  Oct 2014
Labels
Jade Oct 2014
People place negative & positive labels on us.
Sometimes without us even knowing.
Those positive labels being,
Caring, nice, sweet, and beautiful.
But those negative labels being,
ungrateful, self-fish, and ugly.
Most of the time we carry the weight of only those negative labels.
But you have to rebuke every negative label,
And replace them with your positive labels.
Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try to understand?
To hold out our hand?
To come alongside.
In words of comfort.
Words of love.
To the divorced.
Who feel like they've failed.

Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try to understand?
To hold out our hand?
To the mentally ill.
Whose tormenting thoughts are a living hell.

Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try to understand?
To hold out our hand?
To the lost teen caught up in the downward
spiral of addiction.
Where escape from life is so appealing to them.

Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try to understand?
To hold out our hand?
To the homeless man without a dime.
Whose every moment is a struggle to survive.

Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try to understand?
To hold out our hand?
To the child in the classroom who doesn't fit in.
Who needs an aide to settle them.

Labels.
Judgement.
Stigma.
Will we not even try?
To accept.
To comfort.
To...
love.
To hold out our hand.
And then...
watch God heal.
The broken hearts.
Of the marginalized.
From the pain
of
the
stigma.
Of those who don't fit in.
ClawedBeauty101 Dec 2017
Dead...
The nightmare from hell
A ****** at heart
The shadow that fell...

Dark...
The ash against the snow
The black sheep of the family tree
What Labels do I not know?...

Doomed...
The fault line in the ground
The corner of the darkest hall
Where no life is found...


Time has passed and your Labels mean nothing to me now!!!

For where sin abounds... Grace all the more abounds!!!


Redeemed...
Temple of the Holy Ghost
A branch of the True vine!
Holy and Blameless before God and the Heavenly Host...

Righteous...
Seated in the heavenly places with Christ
God’s workmanship
Partaker of His promise, through the ****** price...

Raised...
From my death grappling grave of sin
Was once dark but now filled with light
One of the many unworthy who were chosen

It's been so recently those Labels have been eating me alive...

But Lord you always remind me who I am in Christ!

The Labels make me crumble up... have I failed to be a guide?

Your word and church, they bring me strength to survive!...

                      **Shut Up Labels! For I have Been Revived!
Romans 3:24 - But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
1 Corinthians 6:19 - Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
John 15:1, 5 - I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me--and I in him--bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.
Ephesians 1:4 - For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love

2 Corinthians 5:21 - God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God
Ephesians 2:6 - And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus …
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
Ephesians 3:6 - The Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus

Colossians 3:1 - Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Galatians 5:1 - For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.
Ephesians 5:8 - For you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.
1 Thessalonians 1:4 - We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you …


May make this into a song someday Lord willing, I know everyone has been given a Label, and as you can see from reading the poem I have been given quiet a few and several more. It doesn't matter what and who the world says I am, it what God says I am and as long I am doing what the Lord is telling me to do and I am obeying him, I should NOT fear these Labels...

I do hope and pray someday I'll be given a new label... or seen differently...for now... all I can do is pray and wait
Melanie Dunn Sep 2010
In reality everyone judges.
So caught up in their name brands.
Whether or not we hold our grudges,
Labels are for soup cans.

We assume that everyone we meet fits a certain frame,
It's easier to do this, so that we will understand.
But once you get to know someone, your first impressions' put to shame.
Because labels are for soup cans.

Smart kids are nerdy and will never be intimate.
Popular kids are jocks and girls with fake tans.
Then there's the rebels who take risks and think nothing of it.
But labels are for soup cans.

In reality everyone judges,
But again, labels are for soup cans.
This was just a silly villanelle.
Mason Jay  May 2016
labels, hoe
Mason Jay May 2016
bow tie and collars
nice pair of suspenders
buzzcut and braid
wanna get laid?
***-tuned world
labels all swirled
high level of confusion
doubt and frustration
all the stigma about
sexuality gender who you are

we tell you where you fit
labels aplenty
let me name many
****, ***, thot, *****
these and much much more
*****, *****, and traitor
see you all later
*******, druggie, and ****
nerd, geek, emo, goth
****, ******, loner
crackhead and stoner
athletic and pretty
simple or ****
labels aplenty
go on, take your pick

— The End —