I am an Indigenous women

You may not be able to see it on my skin

Nor hear it in my voice

But when you say a slur about my people

It scares me you could say that

Scared like my people were when they told the police their daughter was missing

And the cops looked at them like they were making a joke

I am an Indigenous women

I can hide behind the white skin I have been given

But my people cannot

My people live through it every day

When you make a heartless comment towards me

My white skin can no longer protect me

Your uneducated words are thrown around like the names of the lost women

As the police make jokes that they are coming home

You watch someone put up a red dress and make a rude remark

Not knowing what the red represents

Your words are heartless and cold

Just like the women felt once they realized no one was coming to look for them

Yes, my skin is white, and I don’t look Coast Salish

But I feel the pain of my people as we fight to be treated equally

As we watch you flaunt your white privilege.

Written By Marlin Marston