This weekend poetry lovers came out for Myanmar’s first “slam.” If you’ve never been to a slam, it’s sort of like a poetry reading with a little attitude. You are supposed to take on sensitive topics, which is exactly what Aung Kaung Myat and Than Toe Aung did when reciting in tandem their poem “It starts with you.”
The poem is a call for tolerance, respect and harmony. But it doesn’t mince words, and that may be why it was shared so widely on social media and was, by all accounts, a big hit at the slam. The poem addresses the use of the word “kalar,” a derogatory term applied to both Muslims in Myanmar and Myanmar citizens of Indian descent, and questions entrenched prejudices in society.
The original version, which we have edited slightly for clarity, was written in English and later performed in Burmese by the two.
“The idea of writing a slam poem on racism here has always been in my head. People think it is okay to live with racial/religious discrimination and mistreatment going on here,” Aung Kaung Myat said in an email. “We also want to show despite our different religious background (I am a non-believer from Buddhist family and he [Than Toe Aung] is a Muslim from Muslim family), we both believe everyone [should] start fighting against racism.”
“We also put a lot of efforts to translate the poem into Burmese langauge because we want to communicate to the Burmese audiences through our poem,” he added.
It is a little hard to recreate the back and forth reading that occurred at the slam just by reading the text, but it still comes across powerfully.
Please read and share.
IT STARTS WITH YOU
When I was five,
A dark-skinned Indian-looking kid sat next to me in the class
Because nobody wanted to sit with him
The moment I got home, I asked my parents “why?”
When I was five,
I knew my teacher hated me
She never treated me well and looked at me with disgust
So I asked my parents “why?”
My parents said “Son, he is not like us
They are kalars”
My parents said, “Don’t mind it. Just focus on your studies”
But the question still lingers in my heart
“Why?”
Is it because we are Muslims?
It is because they are Muslims
They are subject to all the mistreatment and discrimination
Is it right for us to live like nothing is wrong in this society
With the Government ID explicitly saying what your religion is
With the school textbooks that constantly tell the children throughout their schooling
How Burmese are a great race and how Buddhism is a great religion
With the government’s official list of 135 ethnic races where the Chinese and Indians are deliberately left out
With the national identity focusing on religion and religion alone
With the mob attacks and riots happening here and there
As a kid, I have this question, why?
Why do people look at my friend in a weird way
Why does my teacher not show any kindness and affection towards me
Like she did to my classmates
So, tonight I will tell you
I will tell you how their pretty labels
“host”
“guest”
Changed the way people think
I will tell you how racism has been going on in Burma for decades
But no one including politicians cares to change it
I will tell you how it feels to live with fear
When nationalists threaten to burn down your house and kill your family
I will tell you, no one ever asked to be born in a Buddhist or Muslim family
I will tell you how you’ll find out there is no such thing as a pure race if you have a DNA test
So, what is it like to be a Buddhist in Burma?
It means nothing except that you can sell stuff at the pagodas … without troubles
Unlike that Muslim vendor who was beaten and held against his will
By a group of monks
It means nothing except that you can go anywhere unlike a group of Muslims in Rakhine state who can’t move an inch out of the concentration camps
It means nothing except that your attendance to an Ethnic Youth Conference
Will never be denied
It means nothing except that a group of thugs will never set your house on fire
For a religion you practice
When you physically attack someone because of his religion
You don’t attack him, you attack the freedom of worship
which is guaranteed by the Constitution
You don’t attack him, you attack the beauty of diversity
that holds us together as a society
You don’t attack him, you attack the fundamental principles of democracy
Let us all be united against racism
Let us all tell them there is no place for racism in our civilized society
It must start now and it starts with you
