the narrator always places him or herself
deftly
in between decades and cultures.
i am black, in harlem, in the 1960s;
i am latino, in california, in the 1980s;
i am telling the story of the ghetto,
of unionizing, of coal mines
or grape-picking or graffiti art
or a million things interesting, none of them white.
white people have
darwin, and science,
or douglas adams and the sanctity of lies,
or any of the millions
of chick lit bubblegum novels
whose timeliness never seems to evaporate.
but i don't want to write
about the burbs, about parents and how money
isn't the same as communication or love,
or another bildungsroman about
finding family, or whatever.
does dominance make you voiceless?
because white culture is THE culture,
because we incorporate everything,
are we no culture at all?