To the white female poet who says, “Well, frankly, I believe that politics and poetry don’t necessarily have to go together,” I say, “Your little taste of white privilege has deluded you into thinking that you don’t have to fight against sexism in this society. You are talking to me from your own isolation and your own racism. If you feel that you don’t have to fight for me, that you don’t have to speak out against capitalism, the exploitation of human and natural resources, then you in your silence, your inability to make connections, are siding with a system that will eventually get you, after it has gotten me. And if you think that’s not a political stance, you’re more than simply deluded, you’re crazy!” (182)
Woo, Merle. “Letter to Ma.” 1980. Come Out Fighting: A Century of Essential Writing on Gay and Lesbian Liberation. Ed. Chris Bull. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2001. 178-186.
